Stanley Hauerwas on the Church

In his book on Nonviolence and Bonhoeffer, Stanley Hauerwas reflects on the Church:

“That the church is often less than it is meant to be is but part of the witness the church must make to the world on behalf of the world; for nothing is more importent for the world than for Christians to learn to confess our sins. Accordingly, Christians can never assume we have “finally gotten it right,” exactly because we worship the One who comes often into our lives as the stranger we had not anticipated. For Christians, truth can never be a possession but rather must be received as a gift. Christian tradition rightly understood is one long investigation provoked by the questions that must be asked by a people who worship the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.” Hauerwas, 25-26