The church is characterized by three relationships: a relationship with God, a relationship with those inside the church; and a relationship with those outside the church. Said in another way, there are three movements in the life of a church: the move upward in worship; the move inward in fellowship; the move outward in mission. Let's consider each of these in turn.

Our entire existence is bound up with God. "In Him we live, and move, and have our being" (Acts 17:28). This is always the most important thing about you, the most important thing about me, and the most important thing about us. And yet, despite its importance, this truth is rarely publicized in our culture. This truth about God's supremacy remains underreported in the press. It is virtually ignored by the intelligentsia. Seldom does the family physician admit it. Rarely does the advertising industry let us in on the secret.

What do we do in the face of such a massive cover-up? We worship God. We come together each Lord's Day to interrupt the world's program with a special announcement: "Our God reigns" (Isaiah 52:7). We come together to reaffirm that God is here, to be reminded of 'things not seen' (Hebrews 11) and to renew our marriage vows in this holy romance of faith. This corporate act of worship then spills over into the rest of the week, as the entire range of our lives is flooded with an awareness of God's presence and pleasure. When the church ignores this call to worship, that is, when the vertical is flattened into the horizontal, the church becomes merely a social club or a community organization. But when the church truly worships, she is doing the world right. She is doing the world as it was meant be done.

The church not only moves upward in worship, but inward in fellowship. That means you and I are in this together. It's not you without me, or me without you; but both of us together. And you and I need each other.

We need reminded of this. Our national myths over exaggerate self-reliance. We retell Horatio Alger stories of the self-made man; John Wayne stories of the individual gunslinger winning the west; Henry David Thoreau stories of life alone in the woods. We sing the song of Sinatra: "I did it my way." We celebrate the Darwinian ethic (Survivor) by televising a game where contestants win by betraying loyalties and living for self.

We not only have a culture guided by this mythical ideal of absolute self-reliance, but we also have the technological power to perpetuate the illusion. Technology designed for increased communication can actually be used to increase isolation. Consider what can happen within the church. It used to be that the people of God encountered the Word of God in the context of public liturgy. The Bible was a preached book whose message aimed at worship of God and transformation of the community of saints. Prior to Gutenberg's press and the advent of print technology, very few Christians had a private copy of the sacred writings. Now, each one of us has multiple copies. I can read my own Bible privately. I can use my Sony Walkman and listen to my favorite preachers and play my favorite inspirational music, with no thanks to you.

With such possibilities, why go to church? Why not play a round of golf on Sunday morning (while listening to a Christian tape of course!)? Why not prune the shrubs to the tune of a Cambridge Cathedral Choir? After all, isn't this all about a "personal relationship with Jesus Christ as my Lord and my Savior."

We meet other Christians along the way who are determined to go at it alone. They don't need the church because the church is a big disappointment. They have become disillusioned by her shortcomings. The church is fractured with divisions. She is plagued with heresies. The person next to me can't sing in tune. The lady in front of me is ostentatious with her big hat. The elder reading Scripture is one to talk! The preacher is idiosyncratic in his mannerisms, sloppy in his speech. And the church still doesn't have the things I really want – like the multipurpose gymnasium, the electronic guitar, the tea biscuits and gourmet coffee.

What is the result of this kind of thinking? A bevy of 'Jesus and me' Christians who say they love the word of God but they do not love the church of God. They remain on the outside looking in. The church disillusions them so they end up doing 'home church' with just the family. Or they continue in a pattern of serial infidelity to the church by hopping around again and again in search of the perfect church. If their private sensibilities are offended, it is time to leave. If their personal wishes are not fulfilled, they shop for the goods somewhere else. They become religious consumers of religious commodities in a religious economy.

Against this privatized, Gnostic faith, God invites us into an embodied spirituality; that is, a Christian life nurtured within the body of Christ (I Corinthians 12; Romans 12). God shapes us in many ways, not least, through His people. His people challenge us, change us, sustain us, confront us, forgive us and grow us. Believing this, of course, isn't always easy. Recall what our good friend, John Armstrong recently said to our congregation: "It takes more faith for me to believe in a holy, catholic Church than in the holy Trinity." Believing in a holy church is an article of faith. As an article of faith, we confess what is not readily visible to our sin-jaded eyes: the church is holy! Is this not one of the most daring statements you have ever heard? The church is holy because God says she is. Christ loves His bride and says she is dashingly splendid! Can we say anything less? If Perfect Love loves the church, shouldn't we share in that love affair, too?

The church's movement upward and inward also turns outward in mission and ministry. It would be easy to get the impression that because we are a peculiar people (Exodus 19:5), not of the world (John 15:19), and counter-cultural (Romans 12:1-2), that our basic stance is one of aggressive entrenchment: we are against the world. But as Athanasius reminds us, we are "against the world for the world." We oppose the world in the world's opposition to God because we recognize that the world's greatest need is God.

Such a mission means there are things to do, places to go, people to see. So what do we do? We do Jesus things. We give a cup of cold water to a stranger. We practice hospitality. We personalize someone's life and call him or her by name. We preach good news to the down and out. We endure present suffering in hopes of future joy. Where do we go? We go where Jesus goes. We go to Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and the remotest parts of the earth (Acts 1:8). We go across the street to the neighbor, across the cubicle to a colleague at work, across town to the university campus, to the northern reach of Thailand and the southern cape of South Africa. Whom do we see? We see the people that Jesus sees: a curious little man in a tree, a worn out woman at the well, a proud fisherman in need of forgiveness. We see distressed widows, unloved latch-key 'orphans', nervous international students, marginalized minorities, frenzied soccer moms and frazzled co-workers. These things, these places and these people are all part of this mission we have from God.

To be a vital, healthy congregation, we need to turn in each of these three directions: upward in worship, inward in fellowship, outward in mission. Pray that God's favor will rest upon our church family. And make it your priority this week to love God and love your neighbor as yourself.