Forming the church, a community that is sustained by the wily Lord named Jesus, is as challenging as any endeavor we will encounter. It looks like a group of people who willfully gather with nearly nothing in common save for the fact that Jesus calls us his friends. It looks like people who are willing to pray for things they wouldn’t pray for on their own, like our enemies. It looks like people who believe that water is thicker than blood, that we are bound to one another in baptism in a way that is somehow more concrete than with the people who are part of our family trees. It looks like people who believe their allegiance is first and foremost to Jesus, not a country, not a flag, and not a holiday...