I have spent a lot of time here this week (and in past weeks) speaking out against revisionist clergy, and people who I think are using every weapon in their arsenal to undermine Christian faith and Christ's mission here on earth. While I think all of this is part of the 'good fight' that has to happen if we are to defend the faith, sometimes it is draining to focus only on the abyss that is trying to draw the church into itself.
After all, counterpoints and criticism is just one weapon in this battle to restore Our Lord's church to its true calling, and to make it a force for good, salvation, and holiness in the world. Indeed, even in the mess that the Episcopal church is in (the circular firing squad that its General Convention leaders have began and continue to encourage), there are terrific stories and wonderful people, and I think they go to the root of the soul. In fact, I want to take some time and talk about someone today...one of my heroes.
When I moved to Arlington in 2008 to do my doctoral coursework, I did not know how blessed I was to be moving to the
Diocese of Fort Worth, but most of all, I think God brought me to UT-Arlington so that I could have Father Kresowaty (or 'Father K' as most of us affectionately know him) as my pastor for 2 years.
I was not raised in any sort of catholic/liturgical background: I had only returned to Christ about 3 years before I first walked through the doors of Saint Alban's (I guess out of curiosity), and I had never chosen a 'room' to enter. (I was sort of Methodist, but I'd never been active in the denomination.) However, I think one of the factors that led me to choose to be confirmed into the Anglican church was Father K.
I wasn't sure why at the time, but today I was rereading the Book of Common Prayer's office on Ordination, and I noticed where the Bishop asks the candidate for deacon if he will "do [his] best to pattern [his] life in accordance with the teaching of Christ, so that [he] may be a wholesome example to all people".
In his service to Christ, Father K has truly been a living embodiment of this. The Holy Spirit seems to have really used Father K as an instrument to encourage me to deepen my own faith, not just through reading, but through finding Christ through the blessed sacraments.
One of the saddest days of my life was my last service in 2010 as a parish member (I have been to Saint Alban's to visit several times since) there in Arlington. However, I think God sent me to Arlington not to earn a Ph.D., but to meet Father K. I'm not sure why God sent me back to Mississippi after two years, but I just have to trust He has a plan for me...one way or another.
Finally, Fr. K baptized both of my daughters, and if we were to have another child, I think we might drive all the way back to Arlington to have Fr. K baptize him/her as well. Father Kresowaty is truly called by God, and he is God's instrument here on Earth.
God bless you, Father K, and may he continue to use you here on this lost and lonely world.
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