Bursting Life - Garrett Yates

The men's group just finished For the Life of the World by Alexander Schmemann. Schmemann (pronounced Shmay-mun) was an Orthodox priest who died recently, and who wrote this great book in the early 60's.

It's an odd and glorious thing to read an old Orthodox priest: not to mention at 7:30 in the morning with 8 or so others. Loading up on coffee and donuts, our early morning conversations ranged from Secularism and the Eucharist, to, thanks to a burst of energy from God only knows where, the “truth” claims of Christianity. Not everyone agreed – which who could ever expect theological consensus before the sun has consented to rising? – but we found ourselves nourished by a lot more than donuts and coffee.

There was one thing though that stuck with us from our reading: God, Christianity, the sacraments, in other words the whole kit-and-caboodle of our faith, is about life. Bursting life. This joy is, as Schmemann refers to it in one place, the “fragrance of the Holy Spirit.” As the smell of coffee fills the parish hall on Sunday mornings, so God's joy, the fragrance of his Spirit, wants to permeate our lives – to become the atmosphere in which we live and move and lie down at night.

How does this happen? What can we do to, ya know, ring the Holy Spirit's doorbell? How can we become a church that welcomes all people, all that God wants to give us – yes even the fullness of his joy? And how does the fullness of this joy speak to the horrible tragedies that we have witnessed over the last few weeks?

These were the questions – aided by sugar, caffeine, and one another – which we tried to explore. I cannot say we answered them all, far from it. But I can say that in the asking, and in the sharing of each others' company, we sensed that we weren't just reading For the Life of the World – behind the questions, and disagreements, and early morning fogs, we were actually being nourished by it – the life that gives itself for the joy of the world.

Next we are headed to thinking about Christianity among the World Religions, and we will be looking at Gerard McDermott's book God's Rivals. Interested in joining – contact me at garrett@stpaulspgh.org. Or just come! We meet at 7:30 am, Sunday mornings, in the Lounge.