Fullness, not fuss

“I know, of course, when I think rationally, that the church is needed as well as all the hard work and the all-too-human activity that accompanies it. But what remains from that conversation is an unpleasant aftertaste…

I would like to live in such a away that every particle of time would be fullness (and not fuss); and being full, time would be prayer, a tie, a relationship with God, transparency for God who gave us life, not fuss.”

–From The Journals of Father Alexander Schmemann, November 26 and 28, 1973

I agree, deeply, and this is always a struggle for me. I know that much of what the church does is in the real world and someone has to organize it, but oh, the fuss! I don’t think this is snobbery or sour grapes. It just seems to me, somehow, that the church is always a few short steps away from devolving into a slightly-behind-the-curve social club. And though I’d like to live a healthy, well-adjusted group life almost as much as the next person, the church is so infinitely much more.