The church and the gospel it proclaims are never some local phenomenon. Despite our denominational fractures and the lack of formal unity we may have across the face of the Church today, the fact is that in every hamlet where a tiny congregation gathers in the name of the risen Christ, in every soaring cathedral where hundreds gather, in every megachurch that packs in people by the thousands, and in every house church in nations where official church gatherings are banned—in and through and across it all something quite amazing is happening: the revelation of a mystery of divine love that dates back to well before the creation of the world and that will continue on and on into a future in which at some point this same God is going to say "Behold, I make all things new."

Let's let no one convince us that the church is mostly about bake sales and vacation Bible schools and senior citizen bus trips and silly committee meetings. "I have given them the glory you gave me" Jesus prayed. THAT is a message worth savoring again and again and even forevermore.