"Here's the church,
and here's the steeple.
Open the doors,
and see all the people."

Idyllic structures housing great ideals--that is what church purports to be. Then the disappointment comes--when the doors are opened and it is revealed that the church is filled with people. Uggh! Less-than-perfect people. Sinners and seekers and sundry non-saints. People with problems; people who create problems; people who are problems.

It all goes back to God's incredibly bold experiment to entrust this venture of the Kingdom of God to ordinary people on an extraordinary mission. Jesus said it was the Father's good pleasure to give the Kingdom to ordinary people. God! What are you thinking?!! The apostle describes the church as Christ's body. Ordinary people have been entrusted to embody the Lord's presence here on earth. God! What are you thinking?!!

Years ago my heart was captivated by this wild experiment called church. I had grown up not liking church so much. Then being a teenager in the late 60's and early 70's I was afflicted with the same anti-institutional affliction that gripped most all my generation. I liked Jesus; not a big fan of the church.

Then God did something crazy. He gave me the opportunity as a very young college student to lead a small-town congregation. God what were you thinking?!! But in that little Presbyterian church in Hemingway, SC something amazing happened. I fell in love with another man's wife. The apostle also refers to the church as the "bride of Christ." What I had formerly disdained began to captivate my heart. Grandmas and little kids; indifferent teens and anxious parents; laborers and salespeople; farmers and school-teachers all in one little congregation. And real community. That is what captivated my heart--a community of very different people seeking to live out life's highest ideals as they cared for one another and sought to serve God in the midst of their issues and brokenness and real problems.

I fell in love and have never gotten over it. Lord, I love your bride! Not just the idea of the church, or the building, or even the ideals of the Kingdom of God. But real live people trying to do what's right and serve their world and follow after your ways. I have been captivated by this notion that the Lord has more faith in us than we ever have in him. It is his good pleasure to entrust the Kingdom to the likes of us--sinners and seekers and sundry non-saints. God, I love the way you think!!!

And I love the particular church called Wellspring. If you open the doors, yes--you will see all the imperfect people. People with problems. But you will also see people climbing out of their problems. People who are helping others with their problems. People who have signed on to tackle some very real problems in their communities and beyond. People who are embodying the Lord's presence in their world.

Wow! What a beautiful bride!!