Lysistrata's Daughter

Tradition is alive. It's passed down from person to person. This is why our young converts get so confused. They look to each other, all equally ignorant, or online, which by its nature cannot hold the tradition. I don't want to make an idol of a priest, because I think hanging out with the sisterhood ladies and the guys who hang out smoking on the patio and singing in the choir and in general having real life experiences of all aspects of church life is the way that the tradition is passed on. Because so much of life IS online now, I think we need to be very clear and explicit with new people that you have to experience Orthodoxy to get it. A bunch of learned podcasts will not and cannot substitute for showing up to services.

Look, my dewy-eyed new convert, I'm going to tell you a secret:  mostly, the church doesn't work.  Mostly, it's just as ridiculous and absurd as any other motley collection of broken human beings.  But don't give up.  There's nothing that works any better on offer elsewhere.  You have to keep showing up.  Just show up and learn that feelings and hamster-wheel thoughts aren't real.  Show up and try to quiet your inside, but if you can't, show up anyway.  Most of the spiritual life is showing up.  And sometimes, your heart will break open and be able to contain just a tiny shard of grace and beauty, but it will feel like the whole world.  Savor those moments, but don't look too hard for them.  They don't come just cuz you whistled.  But when they come, be grateful, and tuck that joy and peace and grace away in your heart.