Life As Performance Art 42

The church is the people. The people are the church. That is why I go. If it wasn't Anglican it would be something else, but for now it is Anglican. The church is not the idiots who make up the clergy and administration that presume to direct and run the organization. They are hopelessly out of touch, and except for a few rare exceptions, I really don't think that any of them has a real relationship with God. I am sorry to say that I really feel for those people a lot of contempt and hostility, and, if you have been following this thread of posts, Gentle Reader, then I'm sure that I won't have to explain why. Would there be a church without those clowns? Yes. Would it be a better church? Who only knows? It seems that whenever anyone presumes to run or administer something, that it just turns into another ridiculous role to walk into and inhabit, making complete, often venal, idiots out of otherwise decent people. I have no idea what do to about this, except expose it on this blog and otherwise laugh it off, since it really isn't worth taking seriously. Fortunately they have not found a way of infiltrating their Kool Aid into the communion chalice. I simply will not permit anyone, clergy included, to do my thinking for me, and even in a relatively inclusive and benign entity as the Anglican Church, there is always a very dangerous nearness to falling off the precipice into insular and toxic cultism. I have seen this happen before. It is not pretty, and I prefer to keep my distance from those kinds of risks. Would I do a better job if I was in charge? I would be horrible. I would make a complete ass of myself, and I would morph into a walking human caricature. I said that these are roles, as in theatre, that are walked into, inhabited and basically turn into a kind of incubus that controls and subsumes the identity of the unfortunate person who has taken on such responsibilities. I will not permit this to happen to me. I really think that the Anglican Church is on its way out as a prominent sacred presence in our lives and communities, and that my role in my parish church is going to remain supportive and palliative. I am only interested in friendship with the people there, and, despite some of our glaring differences, they are lovely people with whom I would be honoured to be a friend. Even with our parish priest, if she can accept my point of view. I am not interested in inviting others to church with me for the simple reason that I don't think it would make an iota of difference to anyone. Will I be surprised or disappointed if I am proven wrong and the church somehow revives, restores itself and becomes a Sacred force to be reckoned with? Surprised, yes. Disappointed, no, rather, I would be delighted if that ever happened. I just don't believe that it will. Or, that if it does, the church will first have to be pruned and pared down to practically nothing. This doesn't mean that I am going to make myself a problem for the clergy and administration of the AC, simply that, apart from what I write on this blog, I am simply going to go on living as though they do not exist. I will simply smile indulgently at their politically correct guilt trips, say nothing, and continue to do my level best to be a good and faithful friend to others in the church, even to the clergy, if they are willing to overlook my distaste. It isn't that I disagree with their positions, by the way. I just simply resent having stuff shoved down my throat and for this reason I will be maintaining towards them a safe, polite, and self-protective distance.