In astronomy, there’s an idea called the cosmological principle.Which very basically argues that wherever one is in the universe, things look the same, at least on a large enough scale. (The principle is argued despite there being a number of oddities that seem to indicate that the earth is in a privileged position. But that’s for another day).So I’m positing something new. Call it a first cousin of the cosmological principle. I’m calling it the ecclesiological principle. “Ecclesiology” is a discipline of theology, where we study and ponder our doctrines and beliefs about the church herself. “Ecclesia” is a term used in the New Testament writings for the church. It’s a Greek word, and means assembly or congregation or a group called out from another group.And here’s our principle: that looked at on a large enough scale, the church always looks the same. Of course, there will be differences in the details. One church will be in Milan and another on Montana. One will be speaking Mandarin and another Mongolian. One will be in London in 536 AD, and another in 2017. You get the picture. But overall it does not change.Which is important to recognize. Because especially for many modern day Christians, it is easy to notice the problems of the church and romanticize the past. There’s actually a whole wing of Christians who are called restorationists, and their movement started to return Christianity to what it was thought to be like in the first century. (They ended up making their movement look an awful lot like 19th century America, but that, too, is a discussion for another day). But we often imagine that the church 10 or 20 years after Jesus’ resurrection was an idyllic place, where everyone got along, where there were no debates, and where there was no annoying person arguing with you over the paint color in the Sunday school rooms.But that’s completely imaginary. And completely wrong. (Well, maybe not about the paint color. We don’t have any information on that). The New Testament is replete with examples of problems in the churches of that era. Fights. Doctrinal disagreements. Sleeping around. You get the picture. Jesus told us that we would have problems in this world. Problems, but he promised he would be with us. Likewise, he never promised that we wouldn’t get sick or die. Much less that we’d never deal with annoying church issues.And so, like in the first century, and every century since, we have problems in church. Irritating people, cantankerous people, sinful people. Like me. Like you. And because the church is filled with sinners, there will be issues. Always. The problems will look different, they will play out in different ways, but the problems will be there. Do your best to be loving, caring, and to minimize problems, but when they come along, recognize them, take care of them, but most of all, don’t lose hope. The church is where God has promised to be with us and provide forgiveness of our sins. Don’t lose hope, because when problems come, he will still be there.