CHURCH STUFF, GATHERED...

_awakening

quotes from The Holy Longing:

To be in an apostolic community, church, is not necessarily to be with others with whom we are emotionally, ideologically, and otherwise compatible. Rather, it is to stand, shoulder to shoulder and hand in hand, precisely with people who are very different from ourselves and, with them, hear a common word, say a common creed, share a common bread, and offer a mutual forgiveness so as, in that way, to bridge our differences and become a common heart. [p. 115]

Pat Loughery @ Mt. Si Vineyard

quotes from a Mark Priddy article on ginkworld quoting Gordon Fee's Paul, the Spirit, and the People of God:

This is What We Desire to Be: A community of redeemed people among whom God can live and who in their life together will reproduce his life and character in all its unity and diversity. Everything in the life of the church is to be done allelon. We are to be members of one another, compassionate to one another, regard others above ourselves, live in harmony with one another and slaves to one another in love. God is not looking for a set of unconnected individuals, but rather a people who will bear his image and be a radical alternative to the culture

Yup!