The conclusion of yesterday's post may have been a little opaque. ;-) What I mean is that I don't think that we must wait until God brings down the curtain on human history for the reconciliation of the churches to happen. I am convinced that God wants our reconciliation to happen now, not later. At the same time, that healing of divisions, hurts, and hatreds also has a larger meaning beyond the church. It would be a sign of God's loving work of reconciling the world to Godself in Christ.
But we must hear and act with boldness. Are we Orthodox able to do this on the macro level, so to speak? I don't think so. The local Orthodox churches, in their identity as public institutions in the world, are at this time incapable of such action. I would love to be wrong about this.
As you know, dear readers, there is more to the church's life than its functions as a public institution. I'm not talking here about some kind of ecclesiological dualism that divides the church into "visible" and "invisible." I mean simply that each of us who belong to Christ has the obligation to act for reconciliation boldly and with courage, in our own person. If it doesn't happen there, it won't happen anywhere else.
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