The Church doesn’t have a good press normally, but then you know that. It’s seen as dull, moralizing, authoritarian, incomprehensible, uncomfortable and inflexible. In fact, if you stop the ‘man or woman in the street’ and ask them what they think of the Church, they’re rarely complimentary.

So it seems a bit much to believe in the Church – the holy, Catholic Church, the Communion of Saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the Body and the life everlasting. If life everlasting is a description of the Church, it can’t possibly be life but it will feel everlasting.

DVD: Mr Bean

What we believe is much greater! Last week Paul showed us that the Church exists in the age of the Holy Spirit and that as we believe in the Holy Spirit, so we must believe in the activity of the Holy Spirit, which activity is worked out in the Church: the holy, Catholic Church, the Communion of Saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the Body and the life everlasting.

Let’s have a closer look at these phrases about the Church, these activities of the Holy Spirit among us, this institution that God has declared to be the vehicle of his Kingdom grace down the ages since that first Pentecost Sunday, some 50 days after Jesus’ resurrection.

Holy, Catholic Church- v.13
v.13 – Paul writes of the unity that should be the Church – the body of believers – and the power in the Spirit that the Church has.

There is only one Church. It may not seem like that but there is only one Church. The Creed states there is one Church, not Churches, founded on the life, death and new life of Jesus Christ. There may be many denominations, but as long as they are genuine Christian expressions of the Church, they are all part of one Church.

I meet regularly with Church leaders across Bedford, a mixture of Anglican, Baptist, Pentecostal, Independent, Conservative, Charismatic, mainstream, whatever, but we rejoice that we share one faith, one Lord, one hope, one God and Father of us all (Eph. 4:4-6). We are all part of the one holy, Catholic Church.

This one Church is called to be holy, called to live out in its daily life and experience God’s love, called to honour God the Father by receiving and living his laws and commands, called to honour God the Son by modelling its life on his ministry, called to honour God the Spirit by being sanctified day by day and year by year.

So the Church is to be holy and that holiness is also Catholic. This is the word that trips us all up. Wasn’t there a Reformation in Henry VIII’s reign? Aren’t we Protestants not Catholics?

The word Catholic in normal usage today describes the Roman Catholic Church or a member of that Church. Originally the Church was described as Catholic because it was universal. Catholic actually means universal or general or common. Thus, we are declaring in this phrase that we are part of the Catholic Church – not the Roman Catholic Church but the universal, worldwide Church of God – though as Anglicans we also see ourselves in historic continuity with the early catholic or universal church as well.

So we declare in this phrase – the holy, Catholic Church – that we are one Church, a called to be holy Church and a worldwide Church. Why is that important? In a world which highlights the individual and individualism, we want to declare the importance of community, of a place of mutual support and encouragement, a place where friendships can be found, a place of inclusion not exclusion.

Our individualistic world has taken that away from people, who want community, who want relationship, who want a place where they will be loved. The holy, Catholic Church lives best when it provides the means of community: small groups, home groups, prayer triplets, workplace CU, school Christian fellowships and so on. Get involved in Christian community to the glory of God and to your own spiritual benefit.

Communion of Saints – v.18
Paul writes in our reading of a body of believers being arranged just as God wants them to be – every one of them. Not most, but every one of them.

Communion is an old word for fellowship, which has the meaning of sharing together. Communion is not receiving bread and wine at a Church, but of sharing mutual support and encouragement from other believers. Mary’s notice about Jo’s operation is a wonderful example of the communion of believers sharing their resources for the benefit of another, just as the early church did (Acts 2:45 – ‘Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need’)

It is also a communion of saints. Hard to believe that we are saints, but that’s what each person who believes and trusts in Jesus is: he or she is a saint. The Apostle Paul makes this clear in the opening greetings of several of his letters (Rom 1:7, 2 Cor 1:1, Eph 1:1, Phil 1:1, Phm v.5) – in fact he uses the word ‘saints’ 29 times in his letters to refer to the believers.

Each of us here is a saint. It might be hard to grasp or accept, but it is how we are called to understand ourselves. We might feel that this is something we are not worthy of, much like that famous phrase of Groucho Marx, “I wouldn’t want to join a club that would have me as a member.”

But our sainthood is based not our ability or our faith or our spirituality, but on the gracious love of God. Yes, we are a fellowship of sinners but we are also a communion of saints. As sinners, we are justified by God on the basis of his gift of righteousness, not on any righteousness that we may possess.

How do we apply this truth to our lives today? There was a town contest once, the purpose being to find the most caring child; the winner was a four year old boy. His next door neighbour was an elderly gentleman who had recently lost his wife. Upon seeing the man cry, the little boy went into this man’s garden, climbed into his lap and just sat there. When his mother asked him what he had said to the neighbour, the little boy said, “Nothing. I just helped him cry.” Support and encouragement come in all shapes and sizes. As the Communion of the Saints, we are called to offer support and encouragement to each other.

Forgiveness of sins – v.25
Paul writes in our reading of the need for no division. Forgiveness is that which is offered to us by God so that we may be reconciled to him once again. It is the beginning and the end of our faith. Ever since Adam and Eve broke God’s command – sinned by eating the fruit they were not supposed to eat – humanity has been dependent on the gracious forgiveness of God to rebuild our relationship with him.

It is in forgiveness that God restores, and it is in forgiving others that not only do we recognise the forgiveness we have received but that we show forth in our actions the love of God.

Revenge and anger ever seem to be on people’s hearts these days, whether it is at the highest levels of international relations between nation states or in our own home and family. Revenge solves nothing, but forgiveness provides a new chance.

Back in July 1988, an American warship, thinking itself to be under attack by an Iranian jet, gunned down an Iranian airliner killing all 290 passengers and crew. Now most Americans were against paying compensation the Iranian victims’ families because the hostage crisis was still fresh in many minds. In spite of this, President Reagan approved compensation. Afterward, he was asked by reporters if such payment would send the wrong signal. He replied, “I don’t ever find compassion a bad precedent.”

Forgiveness offers a route to healing and restoration. Not always, but at least it opens the door of opportunity. The healing and restoring power of forgiveness, given to us by God, is to be reflected in our lives, whatever our personal feelings. It is godly and it is of God. Whom do you need to forgive today?

Resurrection of the body and life everlasting – v.26
Paul reminds us that we are the body of Christ with all its privileges and joys. We are declaring our hope – not some vague thing as in ‘I hope it doesn’t rain’ but a NT hope, where the word means a sure and confident expectation.

We declare our hope that as Christ was raised from the dead so shall we be raised from the dead, and we declare our hope that just as Christ now lives forever so shall we live forever.

Actually that sounds a bit boring – endlessly living on in some infinite expression of our present lives. But the Greek language in which the NT was written has two words for life: bios, which means mere biological existence, and zoe, which means life in all its fullness. It is the latter – life in all its fullness – which is meant here and which reflects Jesus’ own statement to his followers (John 10:10 – ‘I have come that [you] may have life, and have it to the full.’)

Everyone lives in hope in some way, shape or form. Without hope for the future, life is unbearable. We have the ultimate hope both now and always – a life lived with Christ, a life that because of his unseen work within us we carry the light of Christ to others. Despair can come to us from others, but hope can be given to us by others. Let us be bearers of hope.

Conclusion
For an institution that has such a bad press, the Church is amazing really and these words from our Creed express our remarkable faith in it. It’s a place of community in a world of individualism; it’s a place of supportive encouragement in a world of go it alone; it’s a place of healing and forgiveness in a world of hatred and getting even; it’s a place of life and hope in a world of unprofitable searching for self-fulfilment.

Nothing beats the Church when the Church is being the church. I believe in the holy Catholic Church, I believe in the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting. Amen and amen and amen.