I don't like calling the church building "the church". Perhaps you've heard my sermon about this. Perhaps not. Short version: When Jesus first mentioned "the church", he certainly was not referring to a building. Hence, my title....a morning WITH the church, not AT church. We gathered as a church at the park today. No building. Just the church. Really lovely day. Perfectly lovely in every way (except for the porta-potty....no beauty in porta-potties). This fall thing is just stunning every time it happens. I did forget I have fair skin, so the sun aged me a bit today (i.e. I am sunburned), but it was just soooooo beautiful.
I've been thinking about the beauty all day, but it wasn't just the beauty of nature, it was the beauty of the church. There we were, all of us imperfect and goofy people, people capable of hurting each other greatly, people capable of acting nothing like Jesus--nonetheless, people bound together by Jesus and learning to grow in loving one another. I could almost see sparkling lines between all of us. The longer we've spent with this church, the more lines there are. Shared experiences, shared pain, shared joy, shared worship. That's church. Life together in Christ, because of Christ, for Christ.
Beautiful.
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