The Church (and those churches)

"When we have been wounded by the Church, our temptation is to reject it. But when we reject the Church it becomes very hard for us to keep in touch with the living Christ. When we say, 'I love Jesus, but I hate the Church,' we end up losing not only the Church but Jesus too." (Henri Nouwen)

Thanks to Dan Kimball's blog for reminding me of this quote by Nouwen. If you are like me you know plenty of people who have been hurt by a local church community. How can we continue to love the Bride of Christ, His Church, when so many are so wounded by the individual local communities. Is it a copout to say that we can love the "Big C", the Church, the Body of Christ, but we can remain angry and bitter towards local churches? Those of us who say we follow Jesus know that Jesus clearly taught to love and to forgive. What would it look like for people to forgive the local church communities that have wounded them? Would it be an important part of their healing process?