loving the church

(It's feast or famine around here. No blogging and the two in one day? What the heck?)

This morning I went to church alone, because my man and my baby were under the weather. I went with some minor frustrations, sin to confess, a proud heart. It was so good be alone in my car to repent, to remember that God is at work unifying the body of Christ and bringing together those who would not love one another without the common denominator of Jesus. It was good to approach the Lord's table alone, having confessed my pride and anger. It was good to remember the great covenant that was made at the cross, at the last supper, that drinking this cup and eating this bread is actually a sign of the marriage of the Son to his Bride. Oh, how sweet it is to have such a personal, intimate, God. He wants a relationship with ME intimately. He goes after individuals, not just people groups and countries and nations, but mamas and daddies and single girls and college boys and lonely widows. He is intensely personal. 

I took communion and sat back down to sing, pray, and watch the rest of the church take communion (in our church, everyone walks to the front for communion). The sight of all these beautiful families walking together to the table of the Lord, proclaiming His death and resurrection publicly as a family - it made my heart overflow with joy and filled my eyes with tears. God not only is intensely personal, but also incredibly universal in scope. He is bringing together all these unique people into one family that will forever glorify Him in heaven. I fell in love with my church all over again as I saw this family, that family, those kids, that student standing in front of me because they love Jesus and want to identify with his people.

My church isn't perfect, but I love it. (Similar to my husband and daughter...haha) If we're honest we'd say that all of our churches are a mess...because the people that are in them are a mess. But in that mess, God meets us, God is with us. He's ok with a mess, He's ok with a yukky manger, He's ok with doing glorious work in ordinary, unglorious people.


Thanks be to God. :)