It’s pretty easy to misunderstand the church – and by church here, I mean the local church.   It is not a club, but it is certainly social.  It is not a business, but a church must tend to business matters.   And of course, “the church is not a building, the church is not a steeple, the church is not a resting place…” and with apologies to Avery and Marsh, I don’t think we’re going nearly far enough when we sing the church is the people.  The church not is not service society, but the church is called to serve.  It is not a moral compass, and ethical voice, the defender of the weak, the promoter of justice, or the propagator of religious teaching – although the church does all of that.  And it is incomplete to think of the church as a center for worship, a house of…