The Three Things People Would Like To Hear

Tod Bolsinger, Pastor of San Clemente Presbyterian Church, has a great blog called "It Takes a Church." In today's post he reflects on a passage taken from his book, "Show Time: Living Down Hypocrisy By Living Out The Faith." I liked it so much I've excerpted it right here:

A few years ago a nationwide poll asked, "What word or phrase would you most like to hear uttered to you, sincerely?" Can you guess the first thing people wanted to hear? Not unexpectedly, it was, "I love you." The second was, "You are forgiven." And number three, believe it or not, was, "Supper is ready."

You know, I wrote my Ph.D. dissertation on the life-transforming communion that the church is supposed to be. But those three phrases of three words may be the best description of the church I have ever read.

“I love you”: you are my brother, you are my sister, because of the love of God. “I forgive you”: no matter what you do, we can always be reconciled, because of the forgiveness of God. “Supper is ready”: Let’s break bread together, let’s eat together let’s share our lives together. Let’s gather around communion tables and dinner tables and share our lives vulnerably, forgive each other generously, join ourselves together in enduring and loving mutual affection.

This is a great description of the Church because it is also a great description of God, who says to us, "I love you." "I forgive you." & "Supper is ready."