That you too may be in union with us..

"as we are in union with the Father, and with his son Jesus Christ.." (1 Jn 1:1-4). The order is striking and noteworthy -- first is union with "us", the Church, Body of Christ, through which strangers are brought in as adopted sons and daughters of God, but the importance of the Church is implicitly underlined, I think. Not the clericalist Church that we seem to be outgrowing now, but all the Church, clergy and laity together, past, present and future. (Some other time, I shall better exp!ain what I mean about outgrowing clericalism.) As Christ was sent to draw all of Man back to God, so is his Body, the Church, sent to continue that work across the age.