As winter gives way to spring, and Eastern Lent is only just hitting its stride, I have been considering how our modern life interacts with my faith and my witness, as small and poor as they may be in me.
I was reading Fr. Alexander Schmemann’s For the Life of the World recently, and this particular section spoke to me:
It is only as joy that the Church was victorious in the world, and it lost the world when it lost that joy, and ceased to be a credible witness to it. Of all accusations against Christians, the most terrible one was uttered by Nietzsche when he said that Christians had no joy…1
I keep returning to this: to joy, and the need for it, in my meditations.
Fr. Schmemman continues:
Joy, however, is not something one can define or analyze. One enters into joy. “Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.” And we have no other means of entering into that joy, no way of understanding it, except through the one action which from the beginning has been for the Church both the source and fulfillment of joy, the very sacrament of joy, the Eucharist.
At this stage we shall say only this: the Eucharist is the entrance of the Church into the joy of its Lord. And to Enter into that joy, so as to be witness to it in the world, is indeed the very calling of the church, its essential leitourgia, the sacrament by which it “becomes what it is.”
…
The Early Christians realized that in order to become the temple of the Holy Spirit they must ascend to Heaven where Christ has ascended. They realized also that this ascension was the very condition of their mission in the world…
They brought no programs and no theories; but wherever they went, the seeds of the kingdom sprouted, faith was kindled, life was transfigured…
Beauty is never necessary,” or “functional,” or “useful.” And when expecting someone whom we love, we put a beautiful tablecloth on the table and decorate it with candles and flowers, we do all this not out of necessity, but out of love. And the Church is love, expectation, and joy.
They brought no programs or theories, and wherever they went the outward manifestation of their inward faith was clear.
Over the next few weeks, I will write about joy and beauty, but I’d love to hear from you.
What role does beauty play in you finding joy?
Schmemann, A. (2018). For the Life of the World. St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press. Purchase here.