This Church

Human. Imperfect. Flawed.

“But God, being rich in mercy…”

Bought. Redeemed. Made worthy. Unified. Loving. Whole. One body. One purpose. One calling. One goal. One God.

I have loved many people in Jesus’ church for many years. I have spent my life getting to know them and learning to love them. But yesterday, after a long day full of worship, service, and fellowship, I realized with a joyful ache that I love THE church.

I love the family that Jesus blessed us with when He redeemed us all. I love the disciples who gather in a building in S. Creek to live and love together. I love, too, the saints I’ve known in Tennessee, my other home, and the saints in Kentucky and Romania, my past homes.

And this holy Love is not grown from the seeds of human perfection. We know each other’s stories too well; there is no such thing as human perfection. This holy Love comes from the heart and hands of the Father who perfected us in righteousness.

It comes from Christ, the head of our body, who moves the body so that each action taken is an act of grace.

It comes from a knowledge that we are born of the same blood.

This is my family, the church. And we are One.

“Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.” James 4:4

Jewell Holland