It is impossible to love the church.

Hmmm, so it seems I haven't posted in a while... Almost 3 years in fact... Hmm what to say, what to say...

There's much that's happened in our lives in the last 3 years.

In summary I cannot summarize it.

It was and is unsummarizable.

One day I shall write a book about it. 

For many many many reasons though, I am now back to blogging. 

Today's topic? "It is impossible to love the church" 

First a pop quiz.

Hands up all of you who love the church? 

Ok. Hands up all of you who like the church?

Hmmm.  Hands up those of you who kind of like it but aren't 100% sure about the church?

Hands up those of you who have been hurt by the church? 

Now we're getting somewhere.

I think I have a small (like microscopic) revelation on why many Christians are unsure of the church, much less love it. 

First of all, define love for me. 

So I am NOT talking mushy "gross" (as Jocelyn would call it) kissy-kissy "you're perfect for me and you complete me and I can't live without you" love.

But I am talking about searing Love.

Love that hangs bleeding, dirty, on a cross and shouts, no screams, "I LOVE YOU"

across all time, 

and all space, 

until the end of days. 

That kind of Love.

You see the first problem is that churches don't talk about love enough.

Not that we don't mention love, but that we don't explain what we mean by it.

Because the truth is we are ALL broken and we all have a broken perception of love.

So when we, rightly, describe the church as being a "loving community" we can miss the point by misunderstanding love. 

Love is giving. Love is sacrifice. Love means preferring other people. 

A loving community is where other people's needs are met. 

And where I will absolutely need to sacrifice something of me:

• My money
• My time
• My preferences
• My comfort 

So that someone else's needs might be met. 

And I might never be thanked for it by them. 

And I might never be publicly acknowledged for my generosity. 

And I might never get to see the fruit of my generosity. 

But a loving community is one that gives with no thought of return.

It gives and gives and gives again, and goes on giving. Even when it seems like nothing is happening. 

And all this loving, all this giving, all this sacrifice is impossible. 

Absolutely 100% completely uncompletable. 

Loving the church is a task that you cannot complete. But many die - or get hurt - trying. 

So if you're feeling bad because you feel you "should love the church" but you actually don't. Then I  want to encourage you today. 

Please, don't try to love the church, for it is perfectly unlovable. 

Church is full of brokenness, full of mess, full of people who have different tastes to you, different thoughts to you and heaven forbid different worship music preferences. 

Church should come with a hazard warning. 

It is impossible to love the church. 

Unless. 

Unless you know the key to loving the church. 

 You see people can come to church expecting to receive perfect love from the people, and then they get disappointed / hurt / angry when inevitably a human being lets them down. 

And so they quit loving the church, quit going to church, find another church that just-might-be-more-perfect-for-them because they haven't found what they are looking for. Or worse they hang around, miserable, making everything worse for everyone. 

My encouragement to you today, if you are one of the many who have been let down by the church, is to quit trying in your own strength. 

FIRST: Forgive those who've hurt you, whether intentionally or not. 

And love the church once again.

Not band-aid-fake-smile-strong-coffee love it. 

But truly love it.

I actually believe you can love the church exactly how Jesus loves the church. 

The truth is though -  you can only give love if you have received love for yourself, from the source, the fountain, the author of all love - God himself. 

And I'm not talking about head knowledge "Jesus loves me this I know for the bible tells me so."

I'm talking overflowing abundant joy and perfect peace at the experience of being completely filled with the very love of God.

"the in-dwelling regenerating, perfecting, cleansing, fire-burning, white hot love of the Almighty creator of all things." 

Then and only then will you find... 

Wait for it... 

Loving the church is not something you have to work at. It is something you receive as a gift. 

When you are filled with the love of God you are naturally tuned into loving the things that He loves and loving the way that He loves. 

The things that he loves?

He loves his flock, the sheep of His pasture: lost ones, stray ones, found ones, penned-in ones, crazy ones, 'gay' ones, straight ones, male ones, female ones, young ones, ones that disagree with you on theological matters, ones that like-a-different-worship-style, the weird ones, the googly-eyed ones, the ones that limp .. Yes even the grumpy old ones. He loves all of His sheep. 

And so will you, because His love is in you. 

You can love the things He loves. 

You can also love the way that he loves. 

And how does he love us? Oh how he loves us!

This is how God loves us:

He gives and gives and gives and gives and gives and gives again.  

Grace upon grace. 

Mercy upon mercy.  

Forgiveness upon forgiveness. 

Blessing upon blessing. 

New day upon new day. 

Provision upon provision. 

I could go on. 

He lavishes Love upon undeserving people like you and me. (Guess where you find undeserving people... hmmm...) 

And as you dwell in the overflow of the love the Father has for you, you can share this same love with others. 

No you can't do everything God can do. But by being filled with the Holy Spirit you can share his love. 

So friends if you are trying to love the church please quit right now.

You cannot do it. It is impossible to love the church without first receiving the love of God for yourself. Be healed from your hurts by His love and then be filled to overflow with His love. That's his promise for you. 

Be encouraged today. 

Find a church community that preaches and lives this Love:

Love from the source, 

Love that is freely given time and again by imperfect people who are being perfected by a loving Father. 

Love that is costly. 

Love that is joyful. 

Love that is impossible. 

Love that's just like Jesus. 

"As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love..." John 15:9