The Church

Lately I have been reading about the "church". There is plenty of material. I even participated in a panel discussion for a local TV show about the condition of the church in America. Commentaries abound. As I read some of the biting critiques, I give a painful nod and agree that we deserve a lot of what we receive. When I turn to the Bible I am encouraged by the commitment of our Lord to "build" His church. The foundation that Christ provides gives me hope and courage. But, it also reminds me that the church has been and is a building project. That means that there are always those bothersome signs..."pardon our mess, while we are under construction". For those of you who are less inclined toward material building, think about arriving at a website and receiving the "site under construction" message. It's always a bit annoying when you expect one thing and meet with delay. Welcome to the church. Timothy Keller (The Reason for God) writes, "becoming a Christian always has both an individual and a corporate aspect". When I read Keller's comment I was struck by the fact that we have sometimes have a different perspective on God's grace for our individual journey than we do for the corporate journey. More on this later.