It is the primary reason, I think, why we need to gather as a Christian community -- to hear our stories, to offer our prayers and praise, to break bread and drink wine togehter - because we need to be reminded that the Kingdom of God is very near us, even if everything is a mess from our kitchens to our political lives to our personal relationships. It is so much easier to see the mess and not God. We need this time, set apart, to seek God in the midldle of our messes and a community to see the God in the middle of our messes when we can not.
We practice in worship what we are called to do in the world. We exchange a sign of God's peace with those who have joined us in worship today because we are called to offer a sign of God's peace to all those we enconter today.