An unOrthodox Godfather
As I mentioned before, we weren’t big churchgoers. Occasionally the Greeks would have a Name day or Memorial that we were expected to attend, but for the most part, my wife and I would sleep in on Sunday. Going to church was just a thing we did out of obligation. Easter was the only exception. Attendance on Good Friday and Holy Saturday was mandatory. Every year we would make the trip downtown so that I could re-live the Holy Saturday procession. As time passed it actually got easier. The whole scene that had freaked me out the first year, became commonplace. I eventually knew where to go and what to do. I still found it strange, but it was no big deal.
A few years later, some friends of ours asked us to be Godparents. They had a little girl on the way and we were honored. There was only one problem…I wasn’t Orthodox. Unlike the churches I had grown up in, the Orthodox took being a Godparent seriously, and that meant the United Methodist dude didn’t qualify. Technically, I was a Christian, but that didn’t matter. I wasn’t an Orthodox Christian. Unlike a lot of spouses, I had dodged the need to officially join the Orthodox Church thanks to my Methodist baptism. While being a United Methodist wasn’t good for much, the Church considered me baptized in the Trinity so I got a pass. Many spouses were forced to be baptized, and Chrismated into the Church, before they could get married.
My wife, being aware of the problem, scheduled a meeting with the priest so that we could discuss the unOrthodox elephant in the room. The meeting was rather short. He asked if my parents were still alive (which they were), and then he gave me a book to read about the Orthodox Church. I guess he figured if my parents were alive I wouldn’t want to convert, and that was good enough for me. I was allowed to stand at the front of the church, while my Orthodox wife baptized our Goddaughter. I was not officially a part of the baptism, but to the family, I have always been her Nouno (Godfather in Greek).
A few months later, I picked up the book the priest gave me. I didn’t know much about the Orthodox Church so I figured a little light reading wouldn’t hurt. I have to admit though…my views were jaded and I was not looking to convert. I still had a ton of doubt about the whole church thing. It might be nice for some people, but it wasn’t for me. I felt no deep-seated need to join a church, but this was the one I attended, so I took a look. The book the priest gave me was Introducing the Orthodox Church by Anthony M. Coniaris. It was a relatively thin book so I figured it wouldn’t take long to read, and boy was I right. In the second paragraph, of the first chapter, I read, “It means that our Church is the authentic and genuine Church or Body of Christ in the world today.” That was all I needed to read. I was done. I didn’t believe any church had the right to claim that they were the only “authentic and genuine Church.” So that was it. Thanks, but no thanks. Why did they believe that they were right and everyone else was wrong? I had heard that over and over again from the Bible thumpers in West Michigan. They knew what was right. Nobody understood scripture the way they did. They were saved and the rest of you wannabees weren’t.
Thanks to that one sentence, I would keep the Orthodox Church at arm’s length for another 13 years. Despite being a Godfather (in name only), and the manager of the church website, I wanted nothing to do with becoming Orthodox. I saw it as just another denomination that felt the need to be right. I liked the Greeks, but I was quite content to remain unOrthodox.
