Some years ago, a member of the church I served at the time in desperate anger about some now forgotten offense, announced that he and his wife were no longer coming to church. When I asked him what he would do instead, he replied, "Well, pastor, we will read our Bible at home by ourselves." I asked him where the Bible he was going to read gave him permission to avoid the Christian gatherings (Heb 10:25). I also pointed out to him that he would be depriving himself of the sacramental gifts of Christ's body and blood for the forgiveness of his sins. But the man remained undaunted by the facts. He was convinced that Christianity permitted him some kind of private, personal religion that simply ignored the other believers and avoided the community that Christ built by his precious blood.

The church would be so much better off without all the pesky people that are in it. If everyone could be just like me, there would be no problems in the church, no conflict, no differences of opinion. Unfortunately, on this side of the last day the people who are in the church remain the people who need redemption from their own sin and weakness, just like me. Only those who have need of the doctor should check into the hospital. Why should we be surprised that the church is full of sinners? It would be like being surprised that hospitals are full of sick people! If we judge the church by her children and their warring madness, the church is a worthless, conflicted, and unhappy institution. The only antidote to the church's tendency to human conflict and fragmentation, is the faithful teaching of the Lord and the command to forgive one another as He has forgiven us. What my former parishioner who was seeking the solitude of his own private meeting with Jesus forgot, was that, because both he and his wife were involved, there would inevitably be conflict between the two of them. And there was.