Reflection on Week 1 of “The Six O’s of the Church” – Orthodoxy
This past Sunday Pastor Patrick spoke regarding the first of our six foundational
principles for the church – orthodoxy. The focus of orthodoxy is correctness of
mind; thinking and understanding rightly in regard to truth.
The primary source of truth that God has given us is Scripture (2 Timothy 3:14-4:5).
But we must remember that truth is not a set of rules; rather it has to do with what
is ultimately real, forming a foundation from which all activity of our lives can
spring rightly and against which our thoughts, speech, and actions can be tested.
Pastor Patrick pointed out that in their writing, the apostles John and Paul argue
that orthodoxy/right thinking/truth are all rooted in the life and person of Jesus
Christ. Over and over again, they emphasize that Jesus revealed both the reality of
God and the model of what humans are intended to be according to God. Paul says
there is no other gospel (good news for humanity) to be found except in the life,
death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ (Col 1:15-20 & 2:8; 1 Cor 15:3-5ff,
Gal 1:6-12). John begins his gospel recounting Jesus’ life and purpose – to make
known the reality of God to us and to give us the “right” to become children of God
(John 1-4, 10-18). Indeed, he says plainly, “For the law was given through Moses;
grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” This is what we call a “high Christology”

• that everything we hear, think, and speak is evaluated through the lens of the life,
  death, resurrection, and teachings of Jesus Christ because he himself is truth.
  This is why we can say truth, or orthodoxy, is not a set of rules. Instead, (leaning
  into my love for gardening), orthodoxy is like a trellis. We might view our life like a
  growing, climbing vine. Without something to grow on, that vine grows wild and
  formless and can strangle out what is growing nearby. But if we give it a trellis, it
  has something to grow on which provides it direction and form; a trellis offers a
  foundation for the vine to attach to that guides its growth and helps it become
  more beautiful, not less.
  In the same way, the orthodoxies of the church, the truths or right thoughts, are
  not meant to be binding rules that restrict us from being happy or becoming the
  unique individuals that God created us to be. Instead, they are simply to provide us

with a trellis on which our lives can grow – a trellis whose form is Jesus, our living
Lord (not laws and rules).
When you initially place a plant next to a trellis, you have to “teach” that plant that
this is where it’s supposed to grow. That’s done by attaching the young vines to the
trellis, and the process is called “training” the plant. If orthodoxy is like a trellis for
us as Christians, then the next “O” of the church, orthopraxy, is the process of
training our lives to look like Jesus by attaching ourselves to him. That’s the topic
for the lesson next Sunday, so stay tuned!