A few questions about the Filioque and the Liturgy

I'm not quite learned enough to give you answers about the filoque and its implications. I can, however, share some things I've learned about enjoyment of the Liturgy from the perspective of a life-long member of the Church.

As a child, the Liturgy bored me so very, very much. I mean, an hour and a half of standing, some sitting, more standing, brief kneeling, even more standing... it was a bit much for my tiny body. And if there was a memorial service AND artoklasia AND churching at end? Ugh, forget it. Plus at least half of everything was Greek and we didn't speak it at home so I was pretty lost.

But things started to change once Sunday school began covering the more theological aspects of the faith and explaining aspects of the Liturgy (and starting Greek school helped with the language barrier). Things started to have meaning to me and Church became less and less of a chore.

And then I became a teenager and anything that interfered with my sleeping in on the weekends was suddenly the worst thing ever.

As a young adult, I struggled with my faith. I found it difficult to integrate my new-found love and passion for science into my religious upbringing.

Add to that some jarring instances from childhood through adolescence that shook my faith in everything from family to humanity to God and I slowly found myself identifying less and less as Orthodox and more and more as agnostic (I had so little faith I couldn't even firmly state that there wasn't a God).

I came back to Church because I made a bet with God (long story) and thus found myself promising to attend Liturgy for 52 straight weeks. And I kept that promise. And I found myself falling in love with the Liturgy all over again, as if I was discovering it for the first time, but now with greater understanding as to what it all meant. And nowadays sometimes I can't make it to Liturgy, and I get upset. Even after three years of being back in communion with the Church, I find something different that keeps me coming back, even if it's just that day's Gospel or Epistle reading.

Tl;dr: if it's something you truly love, you'll find a way to stick with it. If it starts to bore you, push yourself to find something about it you never truly considered before. I mean, isn't that the secret to all successful relationships? Your relationship with the Church shouldn't be any different.

/r/OrthodoxChristianity Thread