In Moscow on the way to something else we stopped
at a Pentecostal church as I thought to meet with
the ministers there,it is a dynamic church of
900 members and it is a spirituality I fit with
pretty well...but it seemed there was some crossed
wires and it was an alpha course girl from Britain
who wanted to meet with us before running their
program in the evening there. I did not care for
her manner, and told her that I did not think that
in Russia the alpha course was the answer to the
renewal of our church although it might be useful in
this or that context, perhaps for a priest working
mostly with outsiders for example...but that for
better or worse it seemed to me that the renewal of
our tradition had to start from within the vocabulary
and problematics of that tradition and then move
onwards as it were...
I am not putting this very well and it is not becoming
much of an anecdote...indeed it is not becoming an
anecdote at all.
I think alpha is what is called pre-catachesis...
I surmise from this young lady that some of em at least are
very sold on their thing as being the sovereign way to do
things.
anyhow that, granted a slightly different take, is my take
on it...
+Seraphim.