And because all saints are united with Christ, we are also connected with one another. In a deep spiritual sense, we are united to one another as one body and Christ is our head. Eph 4:15-16 Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.

And since we are joined together as one body, we have a responsibility as a body: to grow together as a mature body in which Christ is the head and this is in love.
What are some things we are called to do? The confession says we participate in one another’s gifts and graces for our mutual good, perform public and private duties.
Just as the early Christians in Acts shared all their money and time, those who are in Christ are to do the same. We rejoice with those who rejoice and mourn with those who mourn. Today’s confession is a reminder that the church is one body under Christ and as members of that one body we are intimately connected to one another.
Communion of Saints

1. All saints—who are united to Jesus Christ their head by his Spirit and by faith—have fellowship with him in his graces, sufferings, death, resurrection, and glory. And, being united to one another in love, they participate in each other’s gifts and graces and are obligated to perform those public and private duties which lead to their mutual good, both inwardly and outwardly.

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1. Westminster Confession of Faith, Chapter 29, Section 4
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3. Westminster Confession of Faith, Chapter 25, Section 1

We learn that the catholic or universal church consists of all believers past present and future. Christ is the head of the church and the relationship between Christ and the church.. Is that The church is the bride, the body and the fullness of him.

The confession calls the universal church invisible meaning we cannot see or know everyone who is saved.

As we worship today, we are reminded that we join all our brothers and sisters around the world, past present and future in, through, and by Jesus Christ. And that this local body here is a small representation of a much larger reality.

CONFESSION OF FAITH:

The catholic (that is, universal) church, which is invisible, consists of all the elect who have been, are, or shall be gathered into one, under Christ its head. This church is his bride, his body, and the fullness of him who fills all in all.

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1. Westminster Confession of Faith, Chapter 26, Section 1
2. Westminster Confession of Faith, Chapter 20 Section 1
3. Westminster Confession of Faith, chapter 8, section 6

a. To inquire into the knowledge, principles and Christian conduct of the church members under its care; to censure those found delinquent; to see that parents do not neglect to present their children for Baptism; to receive members into the communion of the Church; to remove them for just cause; to grant letters of dismissal to other churches, which when given to parents, shall always include the names of their non-communing, baptized children;

b. To examine, ordain, and install ruling elders and deacons on their election by the church, and to require these officers to devote themselves to their work; to examine the records of the proceedings of the deacons; to approve and adopt the budget;

c. To approve actions of special importance affecting church property;

d. To call congregational meetings when necessary; to establish and control Sunday schools and Bible classes with special reference to the children of the church; to establish and control all special groups in the church such as Men in the Church, Women in the Church and special Bible study groups; to promote world missions; to promote obedience to the Great Commission in its totality at home and abroad; to order collections for pious uses;

e. To exercise, in accordance with the Directory for Worship, authority over the time and place of the preaching of the Word and the administration of the Sacraments, over all other religious services, over the music in the services, and over the uses to which the church building and associated properties may be put; to take the oversight of the singing in the public worship of God; to ensure that the Word of God is preached only by such men as are sufficiently qualified (BCO 4-4, 53-2, 1 Timothy 2:11-12); to assemble the people for worship when there is no minister; to determine the best measures for promoting the spiritual interests of the church and congregation;

f. To observe and carry out the lawful injunctions of the higher courts; and to appoint representatives to the higher courts, who shall, on their return, make report of their diligence.

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I know that a number of you who read this blog are pastors of small churches (thanks for reading!). Tonight I came across this from Arthur J. Gossip in his book on preaching, In Christ’s Stead (1925), pages 27–28. I thought I would pass it along:

“…religion is by far the most interesting subject in the world, and the people prove it by the way they flock to hear about it, even yet [1925]. Take any other theme you choose, politics let us say, and through a heated fortnight at an election time you can gather eager meetings. But let them continue, in scores and hundreds of places in the cities, week in and week out the whole year round, and what size would they be in a year? But you—oh, you at times will be grumpy over thin pews. Watch yourself then; be sure that that is really zeal for Christ, and not, as is much more likely, merely hurt pride that stings you. Never rail at a congregation because it is small. It is not the fault of those who are there. And in your deeper moods you will stand gazing in amazement at the folk coming back, sitting there looking hopefully toward you, not yet discouraged, it appears, by the sad persistent failures of the past, apparently still sure that God is going to break through all our imperfections to them.”

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Go and pick up an article to read.

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