the beloved community

last week i had the opportunity to spend a few hours with an acquaintance who serves as pastor at a local congregation. we spent a few hours catching up with each other. how our families were doing. how work was progressing. how church was going. in the course of our conversation several things brought the idea of "church" to my mind (things he saw as "problems" within his church; his unstated, but obvious uncertainty about my participation in our church; and, for that matter, whether we are even in a "church"). for the last few days, then, i have occasionally migrated back to my thoughts on this subject. what is the "church?" what does it mean to be a member of the "church?" as my thoughts ramble back to such things, i am reminded of an essay i read the morning following the time spent with this acquaintance. in "writer and region," wendell berry hopefully defines the beloved community as "common experience and common effort on a common ground to which one willingly belongs" (what are people for?, 85). while he is not speaking specifically of the "church," his definition is quite applicable to the community of saints. the beloved community. the community of the beloved.