Living in Christ, or being one with Christ

One more thought on our new nature that I spoke about in my last post.  The scripture talks about the groom marries the bride and they become one.  Then it makes it clear that it is not talking about human marriage, but about the marriage of Christ and His church, and says that this is the mystery of the ages!  Wow, I would guess that means the biggest mystery of all. 

So the oneness comes as Jesus marries the bride, which is the church.  The church is of course the collection of saints who are saved.  So my observation is that to experience oneness with Christ, you must be connected to the bride, which of course is the church.

How do you become connected to the church?  By membership?  I think our hearts matter more than where our name might be written down somewhere. I think you become connected to the church, or the bride in relationships with other people.  The Navigators have a saying I like, it is life on life.  The bride is referring to a person and a person is an organism.  So I think you are part of the church organically as you have relationships with other Christians.  And only as you have faith and are connected to other believers can you experience the mystery of the ages!