After a wonderful and blessed first day at the ABC conference here in the heart of the Rockies at Ross Point in Idaho, I'm reflecting on the way that, wherever you are in the world, the essence of real Christian, confessional community remains the same. Here I am, 5,000 miles from home and 10 time zones away from Jennifer, yet the pastors and leaders here are the same gracious, humble and Christ-centring people that I know in Scotland and Bulgaria. And it causes my heart to rejoice with praise to God, for I see yet again the indellible stamp of the Spirit of God on the lives of people, imprinting on them (and me!), imperfect and fallible people all, the present reality and presence of the risen Christ. This is a real joy.
And it's not just the people who you expect to agree with. I'm reading a book for review, which I didn't expect to enjoy, by an English Calvinist. It's excellent and has challenged and corrected me in quite unexpected ways. What joy! There really is, despite all the fleshly difference, one church of Jesus Christ in the world, carved out by the Spirit of God - one, holy, catholic and apostolic. A taste of heaven indeed.
