"The church is a human institution; its hierarchy is human. We have this treasure in earthen vessels, so there is a great deal that is quite unsatisfactory about the church....Even so, I don't know an institution any better. In a cold-blooded sense...who else are you going to get to marry you, to name your child, and to bury you? And why do you want the church to do it? Legalistic institutions do not substitute for our demands at those moments, those important moments, in our lives. We long to be allied with two things: with all the people who came before us--tradition--and also with our hope, so we can transcend life. The church is indeed often a failure, but we don't have anything any better. It isn't fair just to walk away from it."
Author Doris Betts, interviewed by W. Dale Brown in his book, Of Faith and Fiction.
I like this. We long to be found in a tradition that allies us with those who came before and with those with whom we travel. And we long for a place that will instill in us a hope...a hope for transcendence, maybe, but a hope that lets us know there is someone out there who knows and cares.
