Reformation!!!!

Last week I was discussing with some of my colleagues the issue of Reformation Sunday.
Some of the other Pastor’s were saying that they were tired of Reformation Sunday.
Tired of bad sermons about the evils of the Roman Catholic Church.
Tired of historic lessons that mean nothing for today.
I suppose that maybe after more years of ministry I might grow tired of Reformation Sunday.
But as of today I always love Reformation Sunday.
It is not a very sexy day on the calendar, but I like having a Sunday to sing a Mighty Fortress and the Church’s One Foundation.
I Like having the church dressed in red.
I like remembering the importance of our history as people of the reformation.
However, my colleagues got me thinking about this day.
And perhaps that they have a point perhaps we have sometimes missed the boat.
Reformation Sunday is not just supposed to be about the once and glorious past.
But it is suppose to encourage us to continue the Reformation today.
For the Church of every age needs reforming, and our own lives need reforming badly.
This morning I would like us to think about together how we might continue not just on this Sunday but everyday to be the people of reform.

In the Gospel for this morning from the Gospel of John Jesus is reminding us that all truth is centered not in a philosophical idea but in our relationship with Jesus himself.
Jesus is the truth, and all other truths shrink in comparison to this ultimate truth.
We live in what I would consider extraordinary times.
Far from being conventional or difficult I would say that we live in a great time.
Think about all the things that we know about now that no one has known in the history of the world.
Not only that but our thinking is not confined to centralized parochial thinking of a few people in our town.
We live in a time that is extraordinary because we can and are in touch with realities that far exceed our limited world views.
Of course, some people find this scary.
Some people would rather that our lives be ruled by what I call small t truths.
Small t truths are things like science, history, political ideologies, or social construction.
It is not that small t truths are not important it is just that over time they change.
As we know, as we discover new small t truths the sand shifts beneath these small t truths.
To build our lives on them is to build our lives on a house of cards.
For example, who ever thought that Pluto would no longer be considered a planet?
I was a history major in college and the more I studied history the more I realized that it was shifting all the time.
The way that one generation views a particular piece of history is in part determined by their own social and cultural context.
This is the post modern mind, it is aware of not just one small t truth but many possible ones.
It is able to deal with the complexity of ambiguity and uncertainty.
The modern mind believed that small t truths where big t truths and could be found through logic, scientific methods, and historical documentation.
For some it has been a hard transition into the post modern world.

As people of the reformation we should be able to deal with the shifting of the small t truths and their changing nature, because we believe in the one big T truth.
We believe in Jesus Christ as our savior.
That is the big T truth.
And this is what the reformation is all about.
It is what we continually have to call ourselves to as reforming people.
Jesus is my savior, if I live in him all is well.
If I try to put my faith in science, progress, history, politics, or even religion then I have lost my way.

What Luther rediscovered for the Church in the reformation was this big T Truth.
Luther called the church back to the center of our lives which is Jesus Christ.
In the Lutheran Church today we need to be reformed because we constantly need to be called back to this Truth.
In a world that has so many small t truths.
In a world that is pulling us in so many directions we must reform our church and our lives to remember that it is Christ who is our truth and nothing else.

What does that mean?
It means that we live only for Christ.
We live for the one who gave himself for us.
We live for Christ who died so that we might live.
It is interesting that Jesus this morning tells his disciples that if they are his disciples they will obey his commandments.
We might be tempted here to think of the commandments as the ten that Moses received from God on Sinai.
But Jesus commandment that he gave his disciples in the Gospel of John comes on the night of his betrayal and death.
“I give you a new commandment that you love one as I have loved you.”
Jesus only commandment is that we have love for one another.
Notice that John turns the Golden rule on its head.
He does not say to love our neighbors as ourselves, but to love each other as Jesus loves us.
That is a tall order, because Jesus loved us even unto death.
A reforming church is one that clings to Jesus as its example as how to live with one another.
In and through Christ we live with each other’s through love and concern.
In this system your problems become my problems your joys are mine.
This week I went out to eat at the Barley House up the road and our waitress seemed a bit down.
I was joking with her about feeling better because I was there.
She then told me that she was sad because her neighbors house had burned down.
She said it with such concern.
It was as if her own house had burned down.
In Christ we care about each other in this way.
We care about the success and failure of one another.
To be the reforming Church and reforming people is to constantly call our selves back to the self giving love of Jesus Christ.

I want to end with a story about Grandmother.
It is a story of her reformation of her own life.
My grandmother grew up in a pietistic strict Swedish Lutheran house.
Her father, my great grandfather was a Lutheran pastor.
Because of her strict up bringing she was not allowed to dance.
She told me that she used to think that was crazy.
That Jesus died for her and therefore she had the freedom to dance.
She swore to herself that her kids would dance.
I can’t tell you how thankful I am that she had this reforming spirit.
It is because of her that I am able to dance, and I love to dance.

As reforming people we realize that our lives and how we order them are tied to Christ, and far from being restrictive and oppressive it frees us to be ourselves.
The one place in this world I always feel most like myself is in the church.
It is in the church that it does not matter what clothes I wear, what soft drink I drink, what music I listen to, what job I have, how much money I make.
What matters in church is only one thing, that God loves me no matter what.
A reforming Church and people constantly bring themselves back to remember in Christ what God did for them.
We remember that God loves us and cares for our souls.
That truth is freeing.
Because it means we don’t have to live in fear, and we don’t have to spend time trying to be something that world thinks we should.
Instead we can be who God thinks we should.

So let us go forth to reform.
To reform the church and our lives so that we might love one another, and we might know the big T truth that Jesus is our savior and the truth might set us free.
Amen

Sermon based on Mark 10:2-6.


This week when I read the Gospel lesson for today my initial thought was to skip the words of Jesus about divorce and talk about his wonderfully beautiful acceptance of the children.
Talking after all about Jesus and children would be a real crowd pleaser.
But after thinking about it more I decided I couldn’t avoid talking about divorce for two reasons.
One is that we all read the Gospel together and it might appear as though I was avoiding a rather difficult part of the Gospel just because it might make me and some of you a little uncomfortable.
I respect all of you too much to skip parts of the Gospel that might be a little tricky for us or might make us uncomfortable.
Although I want to assure you that my job is not to make you uncomfortable.
I see it as this is what Jesus said and if you have a problem with it then you should take it up with Jesus not me.
Second, I know that when I go to worship and the Gospel is difficult and the preacher avoids it then I leave worship more confused than anything.
So, at the risk of taking on a difficult and potentially uncomfortable subject I am going to talk about divorce.
Although you will notice that Jesus refuses to talk with the Pharisees this morning about divorce.
What Jesus wants to talk about is marriage.

The Pharisees they want to talk about the legal issues surrounding divorce, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?”
They ask Jesus a legal question their intent is to trap Jesus into a particular religious camp, and to see if he is really as anti-family as he sometimes comes across as.
After all Jesus is the one that said that one must love God above all things even our families.

As usual Jesus is not interested in the mundane particulars of legal arguments, nor is he worried about what they might think of his teachings.
Instead Jesus wants to talk about God’s intention at creation in creating marriage.
In our world today sometimes like the Pharisees we want to get all caught up in the legalism of divorce.
We want to get caught up in sides.
Are you pro family, or are you a liberal out to destroy “family values”?
It might be helpful when we are talking about “family values” that we might want to focus our intention on what God created when he instituted marriage.
God wanted to create human consecutiveness, intimacy between two people that is lived out over a long life together.
It was intended as a gift to us.
Consider the words that we speak at the wedding ceremony, “God in his goodness created us…and by the gift of marriage founded human community in a joy that begins now and is brought to perfection in the life to come…”
God has given us marriage as a gift, as way to live healthy and productive lives.

I am aware this morning that this Gospel reading from Mark has been used over the years to do much damage to people.
I am aware that the church in years past has used it as a way to shame people it has been used as a way to control and to make us feel superior to others.
It has been used as a legal argument about the evils of divorce.
A couple of years ago I went to a week-long training in New Jersey and stayed at this monastery with other people at the training.
We were talking one night and I asked some of the people there why they did not go to church.
One of the women told me that when she was little she went to a religious school.
And when her parents got divorced the nuns who ran the school punished her for it.
On many occasions the other children were given privileges that were denied to her.
For example, on family day she was made to sit and do extra school work while the other kids went and performed a special show for their parents.
They told her, “You can’t participate in family day because your parents are divorced.”
The hurt from that experience led her never to step foot in a church.

We have taken Jesus teachings against legalism and turned them into a legal argument for why people should not get divorced.
But Jesus is not giving a legal argument for or against divorce rather he is teaching us about the gift God gave us.
Even the harsher words that Jesus speaks about remarriage are really against a legalistic view.
Jesus never says that people cannot get remarried; he only speaks the truth about what happens when we fail to live up to the standard of marriage.
When we are married our lives intersect, two lives become one.
When that is broken there are consequences.
I have had friends who have gotten divorced and it has been very hard on them, but also on their families and on our friendship.
Jesus speaks a deep truth and that is we cannot undo what marriage is by making laws that make it harder or easier to get divorced.
It is not about legalism or making people feel guilty it is about the reality that when a marriage is dissolved it is messy and hurtful to all concerned.
When divorce happens no one needs to tell the people involved that it is not good, they know that because they have to live with the pain.

We should not judge others because we know that Marriage is hard.
Those people who never get divorced they will tell you how hard marriage is.
It is a day in and day out job.
I know that I often fail more in my marriage then I succeed.
So even when we manage to stay married we have no room for boasting because it is only by the grace of God and our partners that we manage to stay married at all.
I always marvel at people who are celebrating their 68 wedding anniversary, because I know how much work and dedication went in to making it all those years.

You see in our lives faith is what it is really about.
It is about living into the acceptance of who we are in the face of a wonderfully gracious God.
It is about our sinful, fallen, broken selves that don’t live up to the ideal that God has made for us.
We are like the children in this way.
We are hopeless without the love and care of our heavenly father.

I sometimes have heard people say that Jesus wants us to act like children more, be more innocent.
But that is not exactly what Jesus is talking about here.
Jesus wants us to accept God like a child would accepts help and care.
Children are helpless and defenseless they depend on the care of their parents for survival.
Jesus is asking us to live into our relationship with God in the same way.
Jesus is asking us to put our lives in God’s hands and to live in the mercy of God’s grace for us.
“Whoever does not receive the Kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.”
This is not about legalism it is not about earning favor with God by following rules about divorce.
It is about entering into a relationship of ultimate trust in God’s care and protection.
I can see that in my own children who depend on us for their food, their shelter, but more importantly for love and a place that feels safe.

On good days our human relationships can reflect that same level of intimacy and trust that God has with us.
On our good days we can see that our marriages, our children are gifts given to us by God.
They are not merely things we do in order to earn points or keep the law.
They are what give us a way to live into the kingdom here on earth.
They are a way for us to save our lives by losing them for the good of someone else.

So if you have been divorced may God’s grace shine on you.
If you are still married after 68 years of marriage may God’s grace shine on you.
If you are about to be married may God’s grace shine on you.
If you are a child who has lived in a family with divorced parents may God’s grace shine on you.
If you are not married may God grace shine on you.
May all of us not live in legalism, but only in the grace, mercy, and love of our God.
Amen

True Greatness!

This is the sermon I gave last Sunday from the text Mark 9:30-37.


In the last couple of years there have been a lot of books out there that talk about finding meaning and purpose in our lives. It is a sign that we are searching for something. We know that something is missing in our lives. Even when people where making lots of money and our national unemployment numbers were practically non-existent we as a country, as a people we were searching for meaning and value. Even though we live in the richest, greatest country in the world we still had this feeling that something was missing. Especially more recently as our economy, that once seemed to grow and grow forever, has tanked we have began to look at our lives and determine what really matters and what is really important. I know people that worked at high power jobs that they hated, and now volunteer helping others and they love it. What all these books don’t always say is that we find our true lives by giving it away. You see it is beneficial to our lives to serve and help others. It is beneficial to our spiritual and emotional well being. We find our true lives in services and in love. The truth is that we don’t need a lot of books to tell us this.
Serving and loving others is what we are called to as people of God.

This morning’s Gospel from Mark is a teaching moment for Jesus on his way to Jerusalem. It is a moment to teach his disciples what it really means to be great.
For us who live in the 21 first century in the richest country in the world, for us who live in the great state of New Hampshire it is a lesson about what it is we really search for in our lives. Jesus on his way to Jerusalem to be killed makes his second prediction about his death. The disciples in a rather stunning display of ignorance argue among themselves about who is the greatest! Think about it.
Jesus is telling them he is going to give up his life for the sake of the world, and they are like, “Hey I wonder who gets to take over after he is gone!” It is stunning that the disciples don’t get it, more than half way through the Gospel and they still don’t understand that Jesus did not come to concur and rule, but to love and serve. However, more than 2,000 years after Jesus death and resurrection we often miss the point too. We believe that strength comes from might and domination.
We want to be the best and dominate everything. Often times our national discourse is more about saving face then it is about finding the truth. We have people that yell and shout down others, rather than try and listen and understand. I know that many times in my life I wish that I would have been better at listening then trying to get my point across.

The problem with all of this shouting and chest pumping is that what we miss is people. We miss what is actually happening as people are exploited and demonized.
We deal with our anger instead of trying to find solutions to help, serve, and love others. In our world none of those things will get you on television.
None of them will sell papers, or advertisement time.

We might see our country as the best in the world, but we can never let that rob us of our humanity, of our call from Jesus to serve the least of those in our midst.
Since coming to Concord only a couple months ago I have heard much talk in our city about the refugees that come here from other countries. For example, I went to the food bank one day with Marc to bring the food our church had collected. I was talking with a woman from the food bank and I asked her who came to the food bank.
She told me that they had many refugees come to the food bank. I said, “Oh well where are the refugees from?” (meaning what country)She replied, “From the Lutherans.” You see we are tied up in the ministry of refugee program in our city. I have heard from others that they would rather not have refugees in Concord. I want to read to you one letter written to the Concord Monitor, “Refugees are pouring into the United States. They are being given welfare benefits and housing, and they have not worked a day in our country. It is totally unacceptable that the American people are burdened with supporting these refugees when we have so many people in our own country who were born here and are homeless. The message being sent is clear: Come to our country - you don't have to work. We'll support you while our own people starve. We need to close the doors on refugees and start taking care of our own people. Charity begins at home.”

I don’t have enough time this morning to untangle all the lies and half truths that are in this letter. I want to point out that what seems to be behind it is a philosophy that we can only help or care about certain people in our country. What is behind this letter is a philosophy that says, some of us work really hard and deserve all of the things that we get in this world. Others simply mooch off the system and reap rewards they don’t deserve. In other words, some of us are great, and others are losers who don’t deserve our empathy, help, or love. What Jesus taught us is that none of us really deserves anything. It is only by the grace of God that we have anything. If we are blessed with material wealth then it is our job to use it in service to others.

I happen to know that the people of Concordia Lutheran Church are extremely compassionate people. I have been impressed in the short time I have been your pastor with your compassion for those less fortunate then yourselves. I have seen it in those who serve at the friendly kitchen, or in our new undertaking to hand out clothes to the less fortunate. One of the reasons I wanted Lutheran Social Services to come to be with us this morning is because I know how compassionate you all are.
I believe that we as the people of God can be part of the solution. We can be the people of God who serve and care for those who others would rather shun. I think God has given us a chance to show our community that the people of God care about all of God’s children. And that anyone who is in need is worthy of our service, compassion, and love. I want us to show the city of Concord the greatness of this congregation.

Our drive to be great is not a bad thing, it is only evil when we use it for evil purposes. Notice what Jesus says, “Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all.” Jesus tells us that it is OK to want to be the best. We should just strive to be the best in serving and loving others. And we can all be great by serving and loving others. One of my favorite quotes is from Martin Luther King’s sermon “the drum major instinct.”
King said, “Everybody can be great, because everybody can serve.
You don’t have to have a college degree to serve.
You don’t have to make your subject and your verb agree to serve.
You don’t have to know about Plato and Aristotle to serve.
You don’t have to know Einstein’s theory of relativity to serve.
You don’t have to know the second theory of thermodynamics to serve.
You only need a heart full of grace.
A soul generated by love.
And you can be that servant.”

I believe throughout the generations we learn this simple truth. The World War II generation learned it as they sacrificed and gave their lives for others, the baby boomers learned it as they marched for peace and civil rights, my generation learned it from giving a year of their lives for community services, and the next generation is learning because the youth love to serve and help others. The national movement for community services is huge, it is non-partisan. No one can get elected president without talking and caring about national service. You see this is the paradox of the Gospel and our lives. We find life by giving it away for others. We find fulfillment joy, and love by helping and serving.

So Concordia Lutheran Church let us continue to grow in our service. Let us continue to help those that are lost, malnourished, and need help. Let us reach out to the refugee, the homeless, the elderly, the child. And let us remember that in that services we will find our true selves, and become disciples of Jesus Christ.
Amen

Agape

"In speaking of love at this point, we are not referring to some sentimental or affectionate emotion. It would be nonsense to urge men (women) to love their oppressors in an affectionate sense. Love in this connection means understanding, redemptive good will. When we speak of loving those who oppose us, we refer to neither eros nor philia; we speak of love which is expressed in the Greek word agape. Agape means understanding, redeeming good will for all men (women). It is an overflowing love which is purely spontaneous, unmotivated, groundless, and creative. it is not set in motion by any quality or function of its object. It is the love of God operating in the human heart."
-Martin Luther King Jr.

"But I say to you that listen, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you...If you love those who love you, what credit it that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. If you do good to those who do good to you what credit is that you you? For even sinner do the same."
-The Gospel of Luke the sixth Chapter

How we misunderstand Jesus on his teaching about love. It is simply too radical and too hard for us to comprehend. We like rules, order, and justice. What we struggle with is love. Not a love that is about how we feel, but a love that seeks the most possible good for everyone even our enemies. In my more honest hours I admit that I have enemies. I have people whose ideology, theology, and lifestyle I can not stand. In fact, they believe things that I would spend the rest of my life fighting against. How am I to love such people? How am I suppose to get along?

Have you ever been with someone you just met, and they say something to you that is so offensive you want to scream at them right then and there. This happened to me at a wedding I was at. I was the pastor and someone decided it would be real fun to tell me this racist joke. I was so upset, so appalled I wanted to hit the person in the face. But I didn't I calmed myself and simply did not laugh. The person instantly knew they had done something wrong and tried to apologies. "I am not racist" he told me. It is time like this I wish I had the perfect words to put everything in proper perspective. But I did not. We went on to have a very good conversation about other things in life. We talked about family, friends, and the importance of faith. This did not make the man's comments acceptable, it simply meant that there is something more that connects us as human beings then our prejudices, our differences, or our ideals.

What connects us is our sin, and our need for Christ. What connects us is love that pours out from Jesus Christ. I hope that in all things we might be able to continue to love one another. Not in any mushy way, but in a real and difficult way. Love is when we want the best for our neighbors and seek it out in our lives. Agape searches out those who are different then me and offers them forgiveness and grace. I rely on the promise of God to deal with my sin with love. I hope that I am faithful enough to deal with other people's sin in the same way.

Bearing One Another in Love

"Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you called in the one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; teach and admonish one another in all wisdom; and with gratitude in your hearts sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him."

Colossians 3:14-17

Recently the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America voted to allow gay and lesbians living in committed relationships to be rostered leaders. This is contingent on the "bond conscience" of individual pastors, congregations, and synods. The issues involved are too many to go into in this blog. The Biblical work that needs to be done to be able to come to an informed decisions on this issue is too great for this space. Even then there would be disagreements about the final interpretation. However, I feel compelled to write about it. In college I wrote a paper on the Biblical issues involved in the debate over homosexuality. For me, this issues is not about an idea, a political position, an ideology, or church doctrine. It is about real people living in real life situations. It is about the Church and its future. All of those things aside I wonder if the church can live in this in between space that the assembly of the ELCA called us to. In other words, can people who disagree about an issue that is so heated continue to hold together as church?

As Christians what holds us together is not a stance on an issue. What holds us together is Jesus Christ died and raised for our sins. It is a radical statement of community and togetherness. Because we say that what matters most is not ideology, political stances, or even theological disagreements. What holds us together is our love for God and one another. This day I ache for my brothers and sisters in Christ who feel that their church has been taken from them. Even as I celebrate for my colleagues who are free to be themselves. It is a place that is not so comfortable to live in. Because their is no cause to support only relationships to mend and to uphold.

The greatest commandment in the Bible is a command to love. We often misunderstand this commandment because we think love is about how we feel about others. But Jesus command is not about feeling, but about action. We are to love even if we don't like, even if we don't agree, and most radically even if we are treated badly. It is a high ideal, but one I believe in to my core. Can we as the church live in a place of love instead of sides of an issue? I don't know. I am willing to try. Are you?

Picking Sides

Watching people at town hall meetings yell at their representatives, each other, and well anyone else they disagree with has been disheartening. But this is the way we as human beings tend to be wired. We have no time for the details. We really don't want all the facts. What we seem to be interested in is the side or position we should take. I can't speak for everyone, but personally I am tired of it. I think it is good (and normal) that people think different about the world, politics, religion. What is not good is that we have no time to listen or to understand what is going on. I mean do any of us really understand the intricate details of bill that will radically change the way we do health care in our country?
The problem is that most of us don't have the time or energy to understand it. We only want to know if it is good or bad. When often the truth is somewhere in between. All we want to know is do we agree or disagree. I think there is a whole space in between. There is a land of information that we are missing because we are too busy yelling at one another. I know that I sometimes fall into this trap. I pray that I can have the patience and humility to remember to listen and try and understand.
I feel this way about worship. It seems that we are trying to pigeon hole people into two camps. On the one side we have "contemporary" on the other we have "traditional". I am neither of these camps. Rather I am for worshipping Jesus Christ. For Lutherans (of which I am) this takes two specific forms. Word (hearing God's love and forgiveness for us) and Sacrament (God being present with us in concrete forms). This is worship it is what is Biblical and historical. Around this I don't care all that much about the window dressing. Except that the window dressings serves the Word and sacrament. (Also, like most people I have likes and dislikes. But this is not about worship it is about my preferences) You see this is the discussion I want to have. What is God doing to us in worship? Not, what I am getting out of it? The same could be said for health care. I don't want to hear about Canada, England, or what you dislike about Obama. I want to hear people with solutions. I want to know how we are going to keep my family from going bankrupt as we try and pay our medical bills? How are we going to keep the church from going bankrupt from paying insurance for pastors?
You see it is not about sides it is about what serves people best. It is not about what side of the worship debate are you on. It is about how the people of God are going to hear the Gospel. It is not about what political side of the spectrum you sit, it is about what is the best health care system for our children. Of course, in reality we love sides, and we love to take them up. This is why we need Jesus. We need Jesus to free us from ourselves. We need Jesus to help us see our neighbors need, and free us from our self love, our hatred, and our love for picking sides.

The Spirit Needs a Body

By all accounts the church is dead. Both numerically and anecdotal this is true. I can't tell you how many people I have met who say, "I'm spiritual, but not religious." It is interesting that this is usually told to me by children who are burying their mother/father. It seems that we do need religion. In fact, I often wonder if it is possible to be spiritual and not religious. I suppose one could stay home and pray, read the Bible, and come into contact with God. I would guess that not many people do this. We need a place to go. We need a community that prays with us, studies the Bible with us, and we can only worship in community. How are we going to be spiritual without religion?

Don't get me wrong I am no church apologist. I have struggled in my own life with the institutional church. Too often the church cares about the wrong things. Too often it is about money, buildings, instead of people and faith. However, I have come over time to the conclusion that without the church I am adrift in my own spiritual life.

There was a year of my life I did not go to Church. I like to think of it as my lost weekend. (kinda like John Lennon's lost weekend. When he left Yoko Ono and went on a bender for a year.) Anyway, I can honestly say that during that year I was lost. It wasn't that God did not love and care for me. It was that I was not closely connect to God. Sure, I prayed to God. But something was always missing. It was the discipline of living in a faith community. It was the ritual of partaking of the body and blood of Christ. It was the intentional hour that I spend in worship. At Holy Communion something happens to me. I start to think about my week. Which leads me to think about my sin, and if always overwhelms me. Then I start to think about what Jesus did for me. I feel a sense of relief, of comfort, of love. I never get that anywhere else but at the table of our Lord.

There is no spiritual life without religion. I would agree that sometimes there is religion with no spirit, but even so this is no reason to reject the institution of the church. The Church exists to keep us connect to the body of Christ. To remind us of the power of the Gospel to save! We don't get that anywhere else in this world. So, I will see you in Church.