Christ loves his Church. It’s his body. Sometimes we think too little of the Body of Christ. We get critical of the Church, not thinking when we do so that we can run the risk of offending Christ himself. It’s not to say we don’t point out difficulties.

It IS to say we pound on the Body of Christ too much at times. We need to be reminded of who we are in Christ and then get back to the task of BEING the Church.

I am preaching on John 17 this week and this quote from Gary Burge is fantastic:

This is the essence of Jesus’ vision for the church. It is not a community that heals people just so they will be whole (though healing is important); it is not a community that teaches so that people will be gratified by knowledge (though wisdom is valuable); it is not a community that evangelizes so that it will grow its ranks (though its mission to the world is crucial). The church is a community that invites people to touch the glory of God, to be changed by it, and to bear it to the world… Spiritual fruit is essentially that which glorifies God.

Let us touch the glory of God! Let us be changed by that glory! Let us bear that to the world!