Each a Part of the Picture

In Sunday school today, we talked about rules and grace.  Why do we need rules and what role does grace play in those rules?

And that could be a blogpost all on its own, but I wanted to write about something else first.

On November 10, I entered an idea in Evernote for a post that said, "Why do we need Church?"  I've looked at that thought for a couple of months, and can't remember why I wrote it -- what post had been born in my mind that I didn't want to forget.  I don't remember.

Today, though, in Sunday school, a topic came up that we as a group did not agree on.  I was teaching, and the topic came up right at the end of class; it lead right into the prayer to end the lesson.

I'm sure I won't be able to reproduce the prayer here, because I prayed it without forethought or notes.  In it, I gave thanks to God that all of us had some idea what God is like, but that none of us had a full understanding of God.  I thanked God that we were able to come together in church and share our ideas about God, so that when we left, we all had a better grasp of who God is, and what we are called to do.  I thanked God that we could disagree and still love each other with a love that came from God.

That's one of the reasons we need church.  None of us has that right idea about God -- we see through a mirror dimly. Together, though, in sharing we come closer to who God is.  We need church because through it we are loved as God's children, even when we disagree.

Let's remember that when we are encountered by what we would not agree with.  We are not always right; we do not have a full understanding of God on our own, and we are called to love each other -- God enables us to love each other - even through our disagreements.