What's In a Word? (On Two Wheels part 2)

I have always been fascinated by words. Within me lies a deep interest in "Etymology" . Etymology is the study of the history of words, their origins, and how their form and meaning have changed over time. For example, lets' take the word : "Awful", In the times we now live in, the word awful is used to describe: extremely bad or unpleasant, ugly and so forth. However, when we look at the word with an eye towards its origin we see that the word was formed from the simple connecting of "Awe and Full, meaning : "Filled with Awe!" = awe-filled or "awful", get it? Big difference, eh?


So here I am talking with Jim in the parking lot about what I am seeing and feeling on this journey into Orthodoxy. " The other day, in fact just yesterday," I said, "I was re-reading "Becoming Orthodox" the book by Gillquist, and something LEAPED off the page to me. It was in the back of the book in the new chapter he added about the passing of 25 years, his update on it, it is here, where he writes about  "Learning to Be Orthodox" in particular the spiritual depth of Orthodox Christianity." I told Jim. (These were maybe not the exact words I spoke, but they are pretty close so I have no problem using the quotation marks, bear with me, please)


I paraphrased something from the book to Jim.


"Jim", I said. " Fr. Peter Gillquist, uses the word, " FULLNESS ! " " FULLNESS  Dude!! " FULLNESS! "


"THAT'S IT, THAT'S IT !!! "  I exclaimed!  Jim smiled and nodded in agreement.


Let me give you, dear reader, the full quote from the book Fr. Peter Gillquist writes:


" I embraced liturgical and sacramental worship not for its exhilaration or ecstasy, but because it was right. It is as though I have come home to worship.
       The reality of this worship has for us opened the door to a fullness of salvation we did not know existed." (emphasis mine)


That's it! That's what I now know was missing! To "fill" that space in me, requires me to become full, (duh!)
And it is by "coming home" to the true Church and faith, which I now see as Orthodoxy, that I will become full. I have held somewhere inside my cranium that one of the definitions of "salvation" was "to become whole". To become that creature that God created me to be. Adam before the fruit snack.


So it is not surprising to me to see that the next line that Fr. Gillquist writes after what I quoted above is:
" It has brought about a sense of  wholeness  for our people we did not have before." (emphasis mine)


"Wholeness!" Maybe there is something okay lurking inside my noggin, after all!


"Two simple words"  answer my " Simple Question Attached"  There is a lot in a word, even 2 of them.


Q.)Why do I have Emptiness ?
A.) Not filled, need to get filled and become whole.


Q.) Why the Orthodox Church ?
A.) Its the "Filling Station"

"Fullness and Wholeness",  yes! yes! yes!


I now feel like the 21 years I lived as a "Protestant, Nazarene, Evangelical, Not Comfortable Attending a Charismatic Church Type Person" has been like pedaling the "Bicycle of Faith" with training wheels attached, rocking from side to side trying to find the sweet spot of balance so I won't fall over!


I now see that all I needed to do, was to take the training wheels off and receive the fullness to become whole!


I'm riding now on 2 wheels! Heading, smack into Orthodoxy.
I may not be on the main highway yet, but, I am certainly on the entrance ramp!


Stay tuned!