In The Presence Of The Unseen

 "* A friend, writing of Bishop Westcott, says this beautiful thing about him:
"In the presence of the unseen he met all life, and you could not surprise him out of it. In this atmosphere he worked and breathed. Not only God Himself, but the cloud of witnesses, the communion of the unseen body of Christ, were more real to him than the things seen."

And the same friend tells a story of how the Bishop's chaplain, finding him struggling late and minutely one night over the draft of a service for a humble country church, reminded him that the congregation would not be critical. "They are accustomed to anything," he said. With a gentle, surprised smile, such as Elisha's might have been in Dothan, the Bishop looked up from his desk and said, "You forget: who are 'the congregation'? We are only an infinitesimal part of it."

 -- from the footnotes of "Gold Cord: The Story of a Fellowship" by Amy Carmichael

Beautiful. I know I am guilty of viewing only those present as the congregation forgetting the wider unity and continuity of the Body of Christ. Art Katz speaks often of the Great Cloud of Witnesses not only as examples but being incomplete without our fulfilling the Will of God in this generation but also those who are yet to come. In 2 Cor 4, we are instructed to look onto that which is unseen and eternal. This means that we not only see the Body as greater but also the work of God wider and richer and universal. I think our God is too small.