Gratitude

I want to express my thanks to all of you who have reached out to me after my request. Though no clear path has yet been revealed to me, I am strengthened by the show of friendship and concern. Most of all, I am grateful for the prayers.  This is no trite statement; my belief in the power and efficacy of prayer is central to all that I am and all that I do, even when I am unfaithful and inconstant.

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Last Sunday was the last Sunday of the Church year, and this coming Sunday, the first Sunday of Advent, marks the beginning of the Church year for Anno Domini 2022. On Thursday, Mrs. Orr and I will follow the traditions of our people and begin decorating for Advent and the coming Christmastide. Among the Protestants of the American South, superstitions run strong, and many believe it is almost a sin to do any decorating or preparations before Thanksgiving Day. Though I left the Protestant world and embraced the traditional Church of Rome, I do wish what remains of Western civilization would imitate these Protestants and stop getting Christmas-y in dadgum SEPTEMBER, which is when I started hearing Christmas carols and seeing merchandise in the stores.

Though I am quick to offer sharp criticism of Protestantism, I am aware of how much I owe to the faith formation I experienced as a Protestant, and I still love and respect many of those who remain in that rebellious sliver of the Christian faith. I am grateful for the strong grounding I received in the study of Scripture and in apologetics and hermeneutics.

Advent. which means “arrival” or “coming,” is a most meaningful season to me. More than 2000 years back, the world was waiting for the arrival of Christ. Everything in history prior to the birth of that holy baby in Bethlehem was leading up to that event. The event was the earth receiving her King.

And I look back at my years as a Protestant, and I am grateful for all of it because it was a preparation, a living anticipation, a leading-up to my receiving Christ. My long season as a Protestant was my personal Advent, that time of anticipation, of preparation to receive Him.

This Sunday, we will light the candles and say the prayers and rein our thoughts towards Christ the Lord, His coming, His life, His reign, His worthiness.

May God bless each of you, my friends. Join me this year in returning to the ancient traditions of our people, the rites and rituals and symbols and sacramentals that usher us into that cold, still stable where the Infant lies, wrapped in his shabby fabrics, surrounded by watching angels, finally arrived and fully able to do for us what He ultimately did.

If you have no traditions, no rituals…then find some that are meaningful to you and observe them. They will be your touchstone during the storms. And storms are coming.

~ S.K. Orr