In a single moment

What Fr Stephen describes in this post at Glory to God for All Things is another instance and example of a truth that opens my eyes every morning and closes them every night, that a single act, a single moment, can contain the whole of our eternity, of unending joy or of infinite despair. In part he writes,

Over thirteen years ago, my family was received into the Orthodox faith. My oldest daughter was seventeen – my youngest was only seven. We were surrounded by friends, strangers, some family…but I recall the utter silence that fell across the congregation as my seven year-old daughter read the traditional words of promise at her Chrismation:

‘This true faith of the Orthodox Church, which I now voluntarily confess and truly hold, that same I will firmly maintain and confess, whole and unchanged, even until my last breath, God helping me. And I will teach and proclaim it, insofar as I am able. And I will strive to fulfill its obligations with zeal and joy, preserving my heart in good deeds and blamelessness. In witness of this, my true and pure-hearted confession, I kiss the Word and Cross of my Savior. Amen.’

In the silence, everyone wept. The purity of a seven-year-old’s confession caused us to blush. The innocence which spoke such solemn phrases as “even until my last breath” took the breath away from all who stood around. It was a moment of which the witnesses knew far more than the child whose moment it was.

This is just a heartening image from his essay. I encourage you to read more by continuing here. This is not a denominational promotion for Eastern Orthodoxy, but rather a testimony of how God works, and how small He becomes to enter with us into our small worlds, to bring us out into the large world of life in Him. It is, I suppose, a promotion for Jesus Christ, because only a God who can come to us as He does can be the living God, and worthy of us, because He alone makes us worthy. This testimony is worth reading, and it will only take a moment…