"There's something stuck in your teeth" and other reasons why we need the Church

Other reasons include, "you're being an idiot"' and "you're being mean" and various other adaptations of the same theme. But ultimately, we need people in our lives who tell us things that are not comfortable, who will tell us things we will not like, who will tell us the truth, and who will love us while doing it.

That's what I've learned today. Churches aren't just buildings we show up to Sunday morning, they are buildings that happen to hold people who hopefully love us well enough and know us well enough to show us things about ourselves that aren't pretty in order to show us our true beauty.

I have had my share of hurts in churches, I'm still not even sure if I'm in the right place or have made right decisions. But this I do know: I know that the church extends beyond brick and mortar. The church is made up of people who can be pretty darn ugly to each other. But nonetheless people, who if they tough it out, eventually learn to see the beauty of Christ in each other and love one with the deepest of love because it is a love that defies conditions.

I've been doing a lot of thinking on this lately. I'm working on finishing up an ecclesiology (the study of the church) class in addition to other things. I love it when my academic life serves to dig things up in my heart, when the two intersect. Not as much as I'll love having this class off my plate so I can move on to other things, but still life can't be all perfect.

But it is just this lack of perfection that reminds me that the church is not a dead thing, but a living thing. It forces me to remember why I fight for the church, even when it breaks my heart.
So those of you who are in it with me. Thanks. I need you.

Are you sure I don't have anything in my teeth?