“A spiritual life without canon, without custom, without tradition, without rules, is the ultimate democratic freedom. But it unleashes the tyranny of the individual imagination. For with no mediating tradition, the modern believer is subject only to his own whim. The effect is to have no Lord but the God of his own imagination. Even his appeal to Scripture is without effect – for it is his own interpretation that has mastery over the word of God. If we will have no hierarchy, we will not have Christ as Lord. We cannot invent our own model of the universe and demand that God conform.
“It is a great spiritual accomplishment to not be ‘conformed to this world.’ The ideas and assumptions of modern consumer democracies permeate almost every aspect of our culture. They become an unavoidable part of our inner landscape. Only by examining such assumptions in the light of the larger Christian tradition can we hope to remain faithful to Christ in the truth. Those who insist on the absence of spiritual authority, or demand that nothing mediate grace will discover that their lives serve the most cruel master of all – the spirit of the age.”
-Father Stephen Freeman, in this article.
Gladsome Lights 
A very heavy subject. How, in the age of covid and crumbling authorities both governmental and spiritual, do we live obediently? That’s a rhetorical question, but certainly a hard one to answer.
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Oh, gosh, yes!
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Hello Gretchen! Fr. Stephen really knows how to get to the heart of the matter. And you always seem to know how to choose the best things to post here!! Thank you for the Feast Day greetings on the 2nd . . . I count that as my Name Day as well as the 3rd of February; a double Name Day! Sara-Anna 😉
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Happy Name Days!!!
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Quiet visitor/reader here pauses to reflect, prays gratefully, goes on through the day followed by companionable light
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These thoughts filled my thoughts this morning as I tried to pray. Much of what you are writing about lately speaks deep into my church journey just now x
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