The Deep Church

I am told that there is no legal person called 'The Church of England' but I appreciate that to some people this will be a surprising fact. All that technically exists in England are forty-two diocese who are in communion with themselves and various other ecclesiastical bodies around the world, but not in communion with other diocese who are in communion with the Holy See or Constantinople. I say all of this because there is a spiritual danger that modern Christians envisage and experience the 'church' on a superficial level. We talk of it (the church) as a building - "Lovely church vicar! - can we get married here?" We might talk of it as an institution - "Fred has decided to go into the church." We might even speak of the church on a national level - "The Church needs to get with the programme and modernise like the rest of the world." All of those comments are skating on the surface of the mystery of the Church.