I love that Chris Tomlin song as well… Makes me proud to be worshiping in an urban Church! Two quotes come to mind. G.K. Chesterton said of patriotism, “I do not love a country/city because it is necessarily lovable. It is lovable because I love it.” I used this in my post on New York City.

Also, “As harbors in the ocean, God established Churches in the cities; so that, fleeing from the confusion of life’s matters, we might enjoy serenity there.” St. John Chrysostom.

Great gloss on a passage that preachers often apologize for. I remember it well in the lectionary. It is the Sunday before Nativity, the Sunday of the Ancestors/Forefathers of the Lord. And yes, I think it’s chief message is that faith is primarily personal and not abstractly theological.

I always loved this passage because as a Bible Quizzer it used a lot of key words (words only used once in a given book of the Bible). There is a message there for us. We are God’s key words, uniquely created for the space and time which we inhabit.