Schismatic or Saint?
I used to (and still do sometimes today) moan on about the church and the people in it to my then mentor Brian Smith. Brian used to listen intently and then say to me "Yep, the church is a crummy place Andrew, full of people like you and me. But you must remember Jesus loves the church and gave himself for it. The church is God's plan A and there's no plan B"
A great quote from G. K. Chesterton: The difference between a schismatic and a saint is that the schismatic loves their criticisms of the church more than they love the church, while the saint loves the church more than their criticisms of it.
I'm still learning what it means to love the church more than my criticisms of it and to love the church more than I love myself. I'm further along this road than I was when a few years ago when I was cynical and bitter but I've still got a long way to go. I'm learning and I'm growing...