When Two or Three Are Gathered

Jesus statement that when two or three are gathered in his name he is in their midst, seems to suggest that he is with us differently when we are together than how he is with us each as individuals. This would mean that there are things that happen when the church gathers that cannot happen when she doesn't. 

If this is true, then it is a strong defense for the concept of corporate grace that is NOT available to individuals alone--which is the argument for sacrament, whose Mother would be the Church. If that is true then the Church is no longer an option--she is essential to faith.

A definite shift in imagination.

Praying with Sacramental Imagination

Remember that a sacramental imagination (over against a Protestant imagination) refocuses the "agent" of activity from us (the participating humans) to God. We pray but we don't trust the patterns of the prayers we pray. We simply present ourselves to God (Rom 12:1 style) in the Offices we pray and trust that God is acting in and through us. Sometimes we "sense" that emotionally, other times we don't. But what is true in either case is that over time, as we look back, we become aware that a transformation is occurring in us and (by faith) in the world surrounding us. This higher view is where we are motivated the most to continue in our Vow.