CCCLXXVI – Quick Thoughts: The Church Is…

The Church is the Bride of Christ

The Church is the New Jerusalem

The Church is the Body of Christ

What is going on here?

The Church is composed of individual faithful, who unite themselves with God. They are Children of Christ by adoption. As both Children and Subject, the faithful are united with Christ as Father and King, both of which use the language of “Bone of my bone, flesh of my flesh.” The faithful, as children and subject, are united with God in a unity of flesh that doesn’t compromise individuality but rather subordinates the individual to the good of the whole. This is likewise how a marriage relationship works, which is how the Church–composed of the faithful–can also be the Bride of Christ.

How can the Church also be the city, the New Jerusalem? The language is mystifying. Revelation describes the new city descending from Heaven. It makes sense to me how the Church could occupy the city, it does not make immediate sense how the Church could be the city. I live for the time being in the state of Virginia, am I Virginia? I can wrap my head around it if I squint and think that it’s a metaphor.

Then again–if you take the people out of the city, what is the city? One of the thing that makes New York, Washington DC, Los Angeles, Detroit, Chicago–what makes these places these places is the people. The Culture. If you can imagine an Angelic embodiment of places, can you also imagine a personal embodiment? We think of this when we think “who is the quintessential New Yorker?” and you might imagine a pot-bellied Italian-American cursing at you from a luxury car (this is a low blow, but I am appealing to stereotypes to make a point). And if the people are perfected the way we will be after we are glorified and resurrected, is it so far fetched to imagine that we will identify with the New Jerusalem literally?

So if this is the case–that we as perfected beings will become personally and literally identified with the New Jerusalem, as both the place and the people, then I think I can wrap my head around this, but again–I have to be squinting.

The reality of it will be far more glorious and far more true than anything I have described here, but contemplating this stimulated my imagination in a fruitful way so I hope I have been able to share that with you.

AMDG