Salutations, comrades!
What a whirlwind the past year and a half has been. Now that I've joined the one, holy, apostolic and catholic Church, Father Cristian and Oana asked me to write a short autobiography for this bulletin. I write for a living, so I figured this wouldn't be a challenge. I was wrong.
Looking back1 I feel like I've become a completely different person since I walked into St. George for the first time. So, rather than 26 years of material, I feel like I have less than two years. Why don't we start with that fateful day in March of last year? I had just gotten back from a business trip to California - a filmmaking conference where I'd drunk enough beer and gorged myself on enough fish to make a Roman Catholic blush.
My long-time friend lsho had been bugging me to join him at church for years. For some reason, before I flew out to the left coast, I finally agreed - we'd go the Sunday after I returned. I got back to my apartment ridiculously late that Saturday night, and then slept through my alarm. lsho was late too, so we got to the service at around 11 a.m. if I recall· correctly. I don't think I'd ever heard the term 'Orthodox' before - I thought lsho was a Catholic and was initially disappointed we weren't going to the big cathedral on 13th Avenue.
I didn't really get what was going on in the Divine Liturgy, but everyone was really nice to me. That was enough to bring me back the next Sunday. And the Sunday afterwards. ·And so on. Fast forward a few months - I'd started to make some genuine friends, but I still didn't really buy into this whole 'God' thing. I'd grown up in a secular home - while I'd managed to cultivate some decent values through politics and philosophy, Christianity just didn't seem like something I 'needed.' How little I knew back then.
Pascha night was when everything changed. I still didn't really understand what was going on, but I think I caught my first glimpse of the divine that night. Couple that with the fellowship I experienced, especially with Dylan and the other guys around my age, and I was sold. I remember that Fr. Cristian giggled when I came up to him the next day and said 'you know, I think I might want to become one of these 'Christian-type' guys.' His response was to keep coming. So I did. Since then, I can probably count the number of services I've missed on one hand (not counting weeks I've been out of town and have been blessed to visit various Greek, OCA, Serbian, etc. churches).
It's hard to put into words what having God in your life does for a man. I finally have meaning and purpose. I'm not blindly stumbling around, throwing all of my energy at work, drinking, video games or girls. Sure, I still stumble and make lots of mistakes. But through Jesus Christ and His Church, I now have a moral foundation that makes sense, plenty of great role models (I believe a special mention is in order for Fr. Cristian, Fr. Deacon Rodney, and my Godfather Alvaro), brothers with whom I have serious and meaningful connections, and so much more.
That isn't even to mention that I now have a spiritual life. I pray. I read the scriptures. If you had told me even two years ago that I would be a baptized Orthodox Christian who strives to put God first in my life, I would have laughed at you.
So, to you, reading this - thank you. Whether we know each other well or not, you've contributed to the amazing atmosphere at St. George that has done so much good for me. I'm so happy that we're family now.
See you at Liturgy - and hopefully the next talent shawl
