Love of the Church

A meditation for July 2003

The second of the Six Great Ends of the Church is the shelter, nurture, and spiritual fellowship of the children of God.

We have long been a part of this spiritual fellowship, as children of God. We have known the shelter and the nurture of God’s beloved and we have shared in the ties of Christian love, ties which are strong and eternal. We can be grateful for our forebears, a great cloud of witnesses, who surround us as we seek to be faithful in our generation.

I ask myself from time to time what it is that keeps us keeping on, that causes us to remain loyal and committed to this institution we call the Church. The answer, I believe, lies in the reality of the Church being more than an institution. We know it as the Body of Christ and as a family - the Family of God. God, from the the foundation of time itself, has called into being this holy nation, this royal priesthood. We are a chosen race, God’s own people, “that we may declare the wonderful deeds of him who called us out of darkness into his marvelous light.”

The Apostle Paul, who wrote that first letter about love, addressed it to a church which was divided over certain gifts being superior to others. Indeed, the church finds its unity when we recognize the “more excellent way” and determine to walk in the bonds of love.

Love of the Church

Look with me at the gifts of the Spirit and I will show you one of the great ends of the Church: “The shelter, nurture, and spiritual fellowship of the children of God.”

If I speak of the Church in terms ecclesiastical or as an outpost of heaven, but describe her only in terms statistical or historical, without acknowledging that, in God’s providence, she is the company of God’s beloved, I will sound her songs dolefully and trumpet in a minor key. And if I, as a member of that company, foresee her triumph in time and also argue the correctness of her doctrines; and if my faith in her is so great as to remove mountains of doubt, but I fail to love her and to convey to others her love, my membership will represent nothing with eternal consequences.
And if I give my time and talents to support her, and have a passion for her mission, but I go out and put out without love, I still gain nothing.

Love, in this beloved community, shelters its children, is patient with slow learners, is kind in its judgments, is not envious of edifices. Love does not boast of its membership numbers; avoids hubris and brash claims. Love, nurturing its disciples, insists only that love’s way is more excellent; it leaves off irritating its neighbors and resenting its servant role. Love treats all of God’s children as family, rejoicing always in the truth. Love, providing a spiritual fellowship, bears with disparity in gifts shared, believes in the value of each gift offered, hopes for growth into the fullness of God’s reign, endures every delay and disappointment.

Love in the Body of Christ never ends.
As for visions of a celestial city, they will come to an end; as for apocalyptic language, it will cease; as for reorganization, and even reformation, it will grind to a halt. For our knowledge is so partial and our envisioning is incomplete, but when the bride of Christ comes, adorned in perfection, our expectations will be rewarded.

When I was at an age for confirmation, I spoke of the Church as an institution; I thought of spirituality as an elective; I reasoned that I could make my faith journey alone. But when I became an adult, I came to see the Church as my sheltering home, as my nurturing family, as the Spirit-led fellowship I needed for my life. For now we see the landscape of our lives as in a rearview mirror, but soon face to face. Now we know some of the answers, but soon we will know all we need to know. We will know as we have been known and loved into being, the beloved children of God.

And now abide faith in our inheritance, hope for joyous homecomings along the way, and love that brings us to our Father’s house. These three abide for every son and daughter, but the greatest is the love that sees us from afar and runs to greet us.

Pursue love and strive for the spiritual gifts.

From Love’s Letters: A Poetic Book of Confessions
by George Gunn
(Library Lane Press / Copyright 2001)