People are people. We are complex. We have hopes, we have dreams, and we have trauma. Regardless of whether we are too tough or too permissive, there is a story behind it. There is a past tense story and there is an ongoing story. Those stories are being told in linear time, while we are all trying to experience God together in the Eternal Present (The Mystery of Time). We hope that the end of our collective story is a happy ending, with all of us together in the Kingdom of Heaven … but for now, it’s going to be a bit dysfunctional as we are all working out the kinks.
People are created in the image and likeness of God. We are invited to partake of the divine nature. We are working towards becoming like Christ. Liturgy is a time for us to pray together and is the center piece of Orthodox Life. If we first ask ourselves Why did Jesus pray? We can then ask ourselves how do we want to pray together in the Liturgy? I don’t think the answer we give is “we want liturgy to be as dysfunctional as possible.” We need to work on that together, with the understanding that it will not get better overnight.