Tag: bible

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Cosplaying religion

You know, something I’ve been reflecting on lately is how much posturing there is in religion and spirituality, particularly in the West.

I was pagan for years, and honestly, there is so much online cosplay within paganism and spirituality. And then I experienced Islam, and I found much of the same thing there. And you see it within Hinduism too. It’s predominantly Western white women taking these ancient religions and traditions and creating an online version of them that, quite often, bears very little resemblance to how those religions are actually lived.

As a simple example my ex-husband’s family are Brahmin Hindus that live in Nepal, and the difference between how Hinduism is practised there and how it is often presented and practised by Western converts is enormous. It’s the same with Islam. There is a huge difference between living a religion and creating an identity around looking like you live that religion.

And I think that’s one of the things I’ve come to love most about Orthodox Christianity.

There is no need for the cosplay.

There is no need for the performance.

There is no need to constantly show people what you believe, what you wear, what you eat, what you pray with, what your home looks like or what your spiritual practice looks like.

It’s stripped right back to the basics.

Prayer. Repentance. Worship. Scripture. The sacraments. And ultimately, God.

And I think that’s where you really find the connection — when you drop the ego.

Because so much of it is egoic, isn’t it? Look at me. Look what I’m wearing. Look what I practise. Look how spiritual I am. Look how devoted I am.

But who are we actually doing it for?

I think there’s a real peace that comes when you let go of the need to be seen by anybody except God.

When you stop performing your faith for the world and simply start living it for God.

And perhaps that’s where the real connection begins — when there’s no audience anymore.

Because eventually you have to stop asking, “Do I look like I’m living the faith?” and start asking, “Am I actually living it?”

There’s a huge difference between looking the part and living the part and that’s where the authentic connection and peace is.

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Stop comparing

Matthew 20:1–16 — The Workers in the Vineyard

Today’s Gospel is one of those passages that can initially make us uncomfortable. Jesus tells us about workers who are hired at different times throughout the day. Some work from early morning, enduring the heat and long hours, while others arrive only at the very end of the day. Yet when it is time to be paid, they all receive the same amount.

It doesn’t seem fair.

Those who had worked all day naturally felt that they deserved more than those who had worked for only an hour. And perhaps that is exactly where Jesus wants us to begin — with our very human understanding of fairness.

But the landowner had not been unjust to anyone. Those who worked from the beginning received exactly what they had agreed to receive. What offended them was not injustice, but generosity.

And that is where the deeper message lies.

God’s grace is not something we can measure, calculate or earn through comparison with someone else. We can spend so much of our lives looking at what another person has received and wondering why they have been given the same love, mercy or opportunity when perhaps we feel they have done less to deserve it.

But God does not work according to our calculations.

Whether we have followed Christ for our entire lives or have only just turned towards Him, we are equally loved. His mercy is not a limited resource, and someone else receiving His grace does not mean there is less available for us.

Perhaps this is one of the hardest lessons of faith: learning to stop comparing.

We can become so focused on what others have been given, what they have achieved, or what we believe they deserve, that we forget to recognise the gifts God has already placed in our own lives.

The Gospel reminds us that God’s generosity is not something we need to compete for. His love is not earned by being first, working the longest or proving ourselves worthy.

The workers who arrived at the eleventh hour were not loved less.

And neither are we.

God’s grace is freely given, not because we have earned it, but because He is generous.

“So the last will be first, and the first last.”

✝️

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The rhythm of prayer

The rhythm of prayer in Orthodoxy is simply learning to return to Christ throughout your day. It isn’t about praying constantly or perfectly. It’s about making prayer a natural part of life.

A simple rhythm might look like this:

  • Morning: Thank God for a new day and say your morning prayers.
  • During the day: Whisper a short prayer whenever you think of God, such as, “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me.” Pray before meals, before difficult conversations, or when someone comes to mind.
  • Evening: Thank God for the day, ask forgiveness for your sins, pray for others, and end the day with evening prayers.

The goal isn’t to tick off prayers on a list. It’s to keep gently turning your heart back to Christ, again and again, until prayer becomes as natural as breathing. Over time, this steady rhythm brings peace and helps your relationship with Him grow.

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And now I see ….

One thing I’ve learned since leaving Islam and rediscovering Christianity—particularly Orthodox Christianity, which preserves the ancient faith of the early Church—is that the idea of Islam simply continuing the biblical story isn’t as straightforward as I once believed.

I wasn’t always a Muslim. I was born and raised Roman Catholic and spent over 48 years exploring different faiths and spiritual traditions. Looking back, many seemed to contain echoes of similar questions and longings, each reflecting humanity’s search for God.

When I embraced Islam, I genuinely believed it completed what had come before. But as I continued to study while I was still a Muslim, I came to a different conclusion. In fact, that growing conviction became one of the reasons I eventually left Islam.

While the Qur’an speaks respectfully of the Torah and the Gospel as revelations from God, Muhammad did not simply continue the biblical story as Christians understand it. The Qur’an rejects some of the New Testament’s central claims: Christ’s crucifixion, His resurrection, His divinity, His identity as the Son of God, and the Holy Trinity.

As a Muslim, I believed the Bible had been corrupted. Yet when I began examining the historical evidence, the early manuscripts, and the writings of the first Christians, I found myself confronted with something I could no longer ignore. The earliest Christians proclaimed the death and resurrection of Jesus centuries before Islam, and that message has remained at the heart of the Christian faith.

For me, I haven’t found a new story. I’ve come home to the oldest one—the Gospel of Jesus Christ, faithfully preserved in the Orthodox Church.

This isn’t written to attack anyone’s faith or to win an argument. It’s simply an honest account of where my search for truth has led me, and why I could no longer believe that Islam was the continuation of the Gospel as claimed, it was the attempt to change it.