Day 24

 The Church stands now, the fellowship, though imperfect, of all faithful people, the noblest thing of earth (because it is not just of earth), the noblest thing of all history (because it lives from beyond history), the hope of the world.  Last year (1951) after writing of a visit to St. George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle, I received a letter from a friend.  He wrote that he had been a choir boy there; and then said, “That was a long time ago as concerns a life span, but after all just yesterday; and I rejoice that I am one in a long unbroken procession of English choir boys who for a thousand years and more have sung to God, and have in their humble way helped to maintain the glories of the Anglican tradition.”  And every time we sing a hymn or say a prayer, or use the Prayer Book, or kneel before the altar, we can say in one way or another, “I rejoice that I am one in the long unbroken procession of people who have in their humble, broken manner served Christ and loved His Church.”  How, to repeat a point previously made, can a person avoid a thinness in his life and real hunger if he does not belong to this Body with its roots in the life of God, its universal fellowship, and its hosts of witnesses in the Communion of Saints?  This is our home; the Church is our mother; and we are joined with men in all the world and in all time who have loved God and His will.  And what strength and Grace comes to us by belonging!  When I think I am working rather hard, I think of St. Paul, when I face difficulties, I think of the workers in isolated places…

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