Church - but not as we know it

Over on the sermon blog, I was reflecting on the texts for this week. We're being exhorted to provoke one another to love. Nik, rightly called me out on my murky Star Wars past, where the "not as we know it" phrase originates for me. Tonight I'm asking myself - Why is it that "church" so often disappoints. I think it's because our expectations are so much higher so, when folk let us down, when support is not what it might be and when love is not evident, it hurts all the more. And so many of us experience church as being a place of hurt simply because our expectations are so different to what we encounter.

What then? Should we lower our expectations?

Absolutely not!

It's important that we never lower that bar and persist, yes, even through hurt, until we are part of that church that is not as we know it. Provoking one another to love is certainly a good place to start.