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NKJ Matthew 22:2 "The kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who arranged a marriage for his son, 3 "and sent out his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding; and they were not willing to come. 4 "Again, he sent out other servants, saying,`Tell those who are invited, "See, I have prepared my dinner; my oxen and fatted cattle are killed, and all things are ready. Come to the wedding."' 5 "But they made light of it and went their ways, one to his own farm, another to his business. 6 "And the rest seized his servants, treated them spitefully, and killed them. 7 "But when the king heard about it, he was furious. And he sent out his armies, destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city. 8 "Then he said to his servants,`The wedding is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy. 9 `Therefore go into the highways, and as many as you find, invite to the wedding.' 10 "So those servants went out into the highways and gathered together all whom they found, both bad and good. And the wedding hall was filled with guests. 11 "But when the king came in to see the guests, he saw a man there who did not have on a wedding garment. 12 "So he said to him,`Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment?' And he was speechless. 13 "Then the king said to the servants,`Bind him hand and foot, take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.' 14 "For many are called, but few are chosen." In this parable, those first "invited" as GUESTS appear to be the Jews (or Israelites), but they refused or ignored the invitation. Those from the "highways", invited later, appear to be FROM EARTH (not angels or those from other planets). The "wedding garment" was given to those invited, but the person had to put it on. Rev 7:14 speaks of those who have "washed their robes and made them white, in the blood of the Lamb). It appears - we are all INVITED to be GUESTS. Maybe we are BOTH "guests" AND "bride".

I see some overlap, too. To me, it's like describing Jesus or the kingdom of God. Biblically the kingdom is not one thing but understood many ways.

it says let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven... the return is the honor and glory given to God for the blessings from those who do the will of God.

And you are one of the few, it gives me a lot of satisfaction when this is meaningful enough to members that they help defray costs. Thanks again so 'MUCH!

I do.

I was pretty limited in how i viewed the world and the church, the righteous and the unrighteous in my twenties. My closeness to my church family was so precious to me, and was a commodity i could not find out there. Then I lived through a baptism of distress and years of suffering to the point where I questioned my position as a child of God. This was the crucible where i learned I was a member of the human race that was loved by God whether it was in the glory of the comforts of life or in the pits of human despair. It was amazing to me that there was never a time when I was not above being tested and tempted to distrust God's love. I still have limitations, and church as a body of people has limitations. How we relate and live with those limitations as church members, present or former... seems to be much about where we find ourselves in relation to our involvement with Church membership. I run into good strong members, staunch financial supporters of Church, needed and valued for their contributions, but personally cold as ice. They see everything as it truly is, just ask them. Then i meet warm friendly church members whose lives are series of unravelings, who are holding onto the promises, though emotionally ravaged by wave after wave of uncertainties. That these two groups tolerate each other... is impressive. Then there is another group that have all the intricacies of faith and religion intellectually smoothed out ready to train anyone's mind, they are the technical religious geeks, and they are over there sometimes on the right sometimes on the left. Among many other groups, young families, educators, medicals folks, poverty stricken, addicts, aged, there are those who are trying to feed the world, evangelize the world, change the world. I recognize some holding everyone's hand they are somewhere over on the left.... God alone could be in charge of His church. At different stages of our lives church meets different needs. It is one body of people through all the ages, they are the faithful. And sometimes we are distant from church even when we are attending. I believe sometimes we are very much the church when we are not present at church services week after week. My church family lives in me. The church in history lives in me. The bible characters of faith, failing at times, strong in faith at times, live in me. There have been horrible times for the church, and few public glorious victorious rejoicing times, that portend a better day. However the church appeared, it has always been divinely appointed and sustained, and preserved. I am thankful for the light that has shined on my life through members of "the church". I want to be that light for someone else.