I try not to blog about my faith that much anymore, since there are so many sites that I link to that do a much better job of communicating Orthodoxy than I ever could.

That being said I will be breaking from that pattern today to blow off a little steam.  There aren't that many things that really bother me, I try to take things easy and when possible with a grain of salt.

This past Saturday I had an experience that really put my tact to the test.  My wife and I ventured into a Family Christian Bookstore in order to aquire a Mother's Day gift for her mother.  After we had decided that we would be purchasing a gift card for her mother we moved to the counter to finish our transaction and move on, we had a lot to do that day.  We tell the woman helping us what we wanted and she instantly started on the "Do you have one of our -insert appropriate type here- cards that allow you to get... something free after you spend way more money than it is worth?"  We said no and she automatically started filling out the card.

Now I would like to say at this point, that sort of behaviour ticks me off; she did not wait for us to say hey I would like that, or ask us if we wanted it, she just started filling it out.  Well I moved to end this right then and there, telling her we didn't want one, we wouldn't be shopping here again so there was nothing to justify having the card.  The woman then proceeded to ask me why, and I said as politely as possible that we were Orthodox Christians, which she repsonded to with "Catholic Orthodox?", taking a steadying breath I said no, not Catholic Orthodox... just Orthodox, the Catholic Church split from us in 1052.

Now you would think that this exchange would have ended it, but oh no that would have been to easy.  She then asked me why I would not be coming back to purchase anything at thier wonderful store, to which I responded, "Well honestly you carry nothing we need or use... I mean you don't even carry the Orthodox Study Bible, I looked. You don't have Icons, incense, or any writings of the Desert Fathers, or even an Epistle in the entire place."  To which she responded, with what I can only assume was smug satisfaction on her part, "Isn't it all Christianity?".

I was a very good newly allumined, and did not repsond with what was on the tip of my tongue: "Well mam, since what you view as Christianity we view as Heresy, I don't think so, no."  I don't have a problem with people being something other than Orthodox; after all we beleive that we "Know where the Church isn't, not where it is.  My problem was the ignorance and arrogance she was displaying in reaction to the fact that I would not return to that establishment to purchase items that they don't carry!  She actually was offended that I would not be coming back to buy books from Max Lucado and Frank Peretti!  It was infuriating, but luckily my wife, ever the voice of reason and a calming force in my life, took over and got me out of the store before I said or did something I would have to take to confession.