{"id":630,"date":"2015-06-07T00:56:27","date_gmt":"2015-06-07T00:56:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dormitionnorfolk.com\/?p=630"},"modified":"2015-06-07T00:56:45","modified_gmt":"2015-06-07T00:56:45","slug":"a-word-on-what-matters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dormitionnorfolk.dormitionpress.org\/?p=630","title":{"rendered":"A Word On What Matters"},"content":{"rendered":"

God matters and what matters to God matters. I know that sounds very redundant, but I\u2019m not sure how else I want to say it. There are many things that do not matter \u2013 because they do not matter to God. Knowing the difference between the two \u2013 what matters to God and what does not requires that we know<\/em> God.<\/p>\n

And this is theology \u2013 to know God. If I have a commitment in theology, it is to insist that we never forget that it is to know God. Many of the arguments (unending) and debates (interminable) are not about what we know<\/em>, but about what we think<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Thinking is not bad, nor is it wrong, but thinking is not the same thing as theology. It is, of course, possible to think about theology, but this is not to be confused with theology itself.<\/p>\n

Knowing God is not in itself an intellectual activity for God is not an idea, nor a thought. God may be known because He is person<\/em>. Indeed, He is only<\/em>made known to us as person (we do not know His essence). We cannot know God objectively \u2013 that is He is not the object of our knowledge. He is known as we know a person. This is always a free gift, given to us in love. Thus knowledge of God is always a revelation, always a matter of grace, never a matter of achievement or attainment.<\/p>\n

It matters that we know God because knowledge of God is life itself. \u201cThis is eternal life,\u201d Jesus said, \u201cto know Thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Orthodox way of life is only about knowing God. Everything we do, whether it is prayer, communion, confession, forgiveness, fasting \u2013 all of it is about knowing God. If it is about something else, then it is delusion and a distraction from our life\u2019s only purpose.<\/p>\n

Knowing God is not a distraction from knowing other persons, nor is knowing other persons a distraction from knowing God. But, like God, knowing other persons is not the same thing as thinking<\/em> about them, much less is it objectifying<\/em> them.<\/p>\n

Knowing others is so far from being a distraction from knowing God, that it is actually essential to knowing God. We cannot say we love God, whom we have not seen, and hate our brother whom we do see, St. John tells us. We only know God to the extent that we love our enemies (1 John 4:7-8).<\/p>\n

And this matters.<\/p>\n

This blog does not matter \u2013 except that I may share something that makes it possible for someone to know God or someone may share something that allows themselves to be known. This matters.<\/p>\n

From
\nFr. Stephen Freeman<\/a>
\nGlory to God For All Things<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

God matters and what matters to God matters. I know that sounds very redundant, but I\u2019m not sure how else I want to say it. There are many things that do not matter \u2013 because they do not matter to God. Knowing the difference between the two \u2013 what matters to God and what does […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":629,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-630","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-church-life"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dormitionnorfolk.dormitionpress.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/630","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dormitionnorfolk.dormitionpress.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dormitionnorfolk.dormitionpress.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dormitionnorfolk.dormitionpress.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dormitionnorfolk.dormitionpress.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=630"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dormitionnorfolk.dormitionpress.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/630\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dormitionnorfolk.dormitionpress.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/629"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dormitionnorfolk.dormitionpress.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=630"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dormitionnorfolk.dormitionpress.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=630"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dormitionnorfolk.dormitionpress.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=630"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}