I am looking forward to our gathering this Tuesday evening. We are starting with Chapter 1 of Paul’s letter to the Ephesians. The great theme of this letter is “What is the Church?” For Paul, the church isn’t bishops, priests, and deacons. Nor is it vestries, choirs, and committees. And, of course, the church isn’t a physical building or great programs. Rather the church, at its most basic level, is simply the gathering of God’s faithful people. The Greek word for church, ekklesia, simply means an assembly or a meeting, not unlike the Roman equivalent of a Rotary Club. Paul’s concern in Chapter 1 is how the church itself comes about, or in other words, who called the meeting. As you read through this chapter (hopefully for the 2nd or 3rd time) think about the role of God’s grace and his actions in bringing about the assembly of God’s people, and specifically how the church is not a hotel for saints who are good enough to enter but a hospital for sinners to which Christ has admitted us.
Dinner is a 6. If you are coming, please email me back and let me know to make sure we have sufficient food and seats.
He has put all things under his feet and has made him the head over all things for the church, which is his body, the fulness of him who fills all in all.
Ephesians 1:22