One New Humanity

"But now in Christ Jesus you who were once far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. For through him we have access in one Spirit to th Father." Eph 2:13-18

Ah, here is is, heart of the gospel. Christ unites us to himself, to each other, to the Father. Not in some symbolic, theoretical way, but by the power of the Spirit.
I've been so gripped by the call of Christ to follow him, so dismayed by the narrowness of the church. Then in rapid succession the revelation that God loves all of his church, but does not necessarily agree with them. Last night hearing the above text preached, I realized that the job of the church is constantly to burst out of the boundaries we put around it - including the bounds of the bible.