Brothers and Sisters, the Church is God’s society among human societies. It is a heavenly city invading the earthly city. The world does not want this invasion, but Heaven wants this invasion. The incarnation makes this territorial conflict inevitable and Jesus’ Ascension makes this territorial conflict a heavenly victory. The world will combat this invasion. They will set up evil institutions to train an army of heaven haters. They will tell us false stories. They will teach you to embrace their symbols. They will establish their own unrighteous laws, and they will even have their own rituals. They will do everything to un-do the heavenly influence upon earth. They will do everything to un-do our prayer, “thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” But into this world of un-heavenly stories, God will introduce His story. Into a world of books, God comes with His own library; into a world of symbols and rituals and sacrificial meals, God builds a Church organized by a ritual bath and a feast of bread and wine…in a world where communities are formed on the basis of un-heavenly assumptions, God will gather a community to produce the aroma of Christ in their life together.”[1] This morning we feast once more in this new formed community. Let us come to the Feast!
[1] Some thoughts from Leithart’s “Against Christianity.”
