The church has men, women, and children in its community at all levels of immaturity and maturity. It is as if a symphony orchestra had beginners and masters playing alongside one another, the first violinist seated next to a ten-year-old who hasn't yet learned how to tune her strings. Church is not a performing arts center for love and worship. And then there is this. Every detail in the practice of love and worship is susceptible to perversion and sacrilege. There are no flu shots against sin. There are many more ways to sin against love than by going to bed with Bathsheba. There are many more ways to sin against worship than by dancing around a golden calf. In writing all this I have no intention of putting an imprimatur on mediocrity or shrugging my shoulders at sloppiness. All I am insisting on is that if we want to embrace a truly Spirit-formed church, we must embrace the messy conditions - the complexity of relationships both interpersonal and Trinitarian, the many levels of maturity and immaturity, the ever-present vulnerability of everyone to sin - out of which it is being formed. These are the conditions in which the Holy Spirit is working. If we are serious about church and want to participate in what the Holy Spirit is doing, these are the conditions.
Eugene H. Peterson. Practice Resurrection: A Conversation on Growing Up in Christ (Kindle Location 2543). Kindle Edition.
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