It's a dark, gloomy and beautiful day today. The Northwest is back to looking like it should, instead of trying to do some kind of California impression. Someone once told me that the grey skies are like a blanket -- they make you feel safe and secure. I agree with that. The grey insulates you. It pulls you inside yourself, almost forces you to wonder about who you are, who you are becoming.

I had to miss church today because Kelly had to go to work early. That makes four weeks in a row, since either Luke or I have been sick for the last three. I miss the community, the love, the closeness. I am starting to realize that it is not really possible to know God outside of his people. We can only know God through Christ, and the church is Christ's body. The work of the Holy Spirit takes place within the church (now of course I mean the people, not the building or the institution).

This is an idea that runs against the dominant mode of religious thought in Western society. Religion and belief are person things, relegated to the inner realm. But I think it is foolish to think we can just wander, and figure things out for ourselves. All truth is God's truth, but the truth that really changes us is hard to recognize. Perhaps it is impossible to recognize. We need the enlightenment that comes from the Holy Spirit, and that brings us back to -- the church. The Temple of the Holy Spirit.

This entry was posted by 141NYC, on Sunday, March 20, 2005. You can leave your response.