Wisdom!

From Fr. Alexander Schmemann (I know, I know - what did he write that ISN'T wise?):

We speak of feasts, and the feast is the expression of Christianity as joy. When you teach children, you convey to them not only certain knowledge but also the spirit which is behind this knowledge. You know that the one thing a child accepts easily is precisely joy. But we have made our Christianity so adult, so serious, so sad, so solemn, that we have virtually emptied it of that joy. Yet Christ said, 'Whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.' This does not mean that we should forget mathematics, geography, etc. To become like a child, in Christ's words, means to become capable of that joy of which an adult is no longer capable, to enter into communion with things, with nature, with other people, without suspicion or fear or frustration. We often use the term 'grace.' But what is grace? Charis in Greek means not only grace but also joy. If I stress this point so much, it is because of my certainty that our first message must be the message of Paschal joy. When we stand at the door of the church and the priest says, 'Christ is risen,' the night, in the words of St. Gregory of Nyssa, becomes 'lighter than the day.' Here is the strength, the real root of Christian experience. And only within the framework of this joy can we understand everything else. [Liturgy and Life: Christian Development through Liturgical Experience, p. 78]

I've often pondered this very thing: how DOES one describe the joy of the Midnight Divine Service on the Feast of our Lord's Nativity? The peace, the joy, the blessedness that pulses through this liturgy and sweeps away all care. Similarly with the Divine Service on Easter. You can't just write about it. You can't convey it with mere words. It's an experience that you must live through to understand what it means for the Christian to celebrate that God became Man and that God in the flesh has destroyed death, covered sin, and broken the shackles with which Satan has bound our race. Similarly with the Good Friday liturgy. And the Ascension Day liturgy. And, well, you get the idea. Each celebration comes as gift from the Giver of Life, the Lover of the human race. Each has a joy that you DO have to become a child to truly love. Blessed and holy Trinity, give us the heart of children that we may enter into the joy of our Lord. Amen!