When we get together to do church, everyone is welcome but it is primarily those who believe in Jesus who come. And the community of believers in Jesus are like a body. 1 Corinthians 12:12-14 (NIV2011) puts it like this:

Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. For we were all baptised by one Spirit so as to form one body– whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free– and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. And so the body is not made up of one part but of many.

One of the consequences of this deep unity is (verse 26):

If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honoured, every part rejoices with it.

We always have something to rejoice about. Because the end is near, through Jesus we know the full experience of salvation into God’s family is near! And we normally have something to mourn about. Because the end is near, we know the testing that produces perseverance is not unusual. (Check out 1 Peter 4 especially verses 12 and 13.)

So as we grow in loving each other more and more deeply, I expect church will feel more and more emotionally rich.

Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. (1 Corinthians 12:27)