It’s Day 28 of the Giving Thanks Challenge hosted by Leah at South Breeze Farm.

I am thankful for church. No church is perfect, but God ordained the church, cleansed it, gave gifts to it, and somehow uses it to show His wisdom to creatures in the heavenlies.

I’m working on a post titled “Why go to church?” and hope to have it up in the next week or two.

But for now this hymn has come to my mind often today. More stanzas to it are here.

The Church’s one foundation
Is Jesus Christ her Lord,
She is His new creation
By water and the Word.
From heaven He came and sought her
To be His holy bride;
With His own blood He bought her
And for her life He died.

She is from every nation,
Yet one o’er all the earth;
Her charter of salvation,
One Lord, one faith, one birth;
One holy Name she blesses,
Partakes one holy food,
And to one hope she presses,
With every grace endued.

Yet she on earth hath union
With God the Three in One,
And mystic sweet communion
With those whose rest is won,
O happy ones and holy!
Lord, give us grace that we
Like them, the meek and lowly,
On high may dwell with Thee.

~ Samuel J. Stone, 1866