The Exalted Position of Christ's Church

In our reading today in Psalm 78 we came across a verse that ought to take our breathe away. The writer Asaph, in the 61st verse of this psalm, states that Israel is "God's power and glory". He directly associates Israel with the power and glory of our Majestic God. Why does he do this and what does He mean by this magnificient statement?
It certainly means that Israel was birthed by God with purpose, and that that purpose was to display the power and glory of God. God so identified Himself with the people of Israel that He claims they are the display of His power and glory to the world around.
In the history of Israel about which we have been reading we have seen this to be true. God took this nation, starting with just a few people, and made them into a great nation. He took a people who for over 400 years were in bondage and miraculously delivered them and planted them in a new land flowing with "milk and honey". He walked with this nation, conquered their foes, guided their path, and gave them a righteous law. He lived among them, stating that He wanted to be their God, and they His people. He wanted that relationship and the effects of that relationship on their corporate life to be a "light to the nations".
Now what was true of Israel, is equally true of the New Israel - the church. We, too, are the power and glory of God to a watching world. We may not display it by conquering nations and inhabiting lands as our forefathers did, but the display of power and glory will be no less magnificient. In fact, it may be more glorious.
We are called to display God's power in our weakness. As we humble ourselves before God and take our place as His needy servants, God is able to do through us what eye has not seen and ear has not heard. He is able through us to change lives, even cultures, transforming them from domains of darkness, to regions of light and life. That's a power greater than any human power!
We are called as well to display His glory, perhaps a glory that was best seen in the cross of Christ. 1 John 4:9b-11 calls us to this. John exhorted his readers by saying, "...God sent His only Son into the world, so that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another."
Our privilege as Christ's church is to display this uncommon kind of love. It is our inestimable joy to represent God by laying down our lives so that others may live. This is the kind of glory to which we are called and empowered by God's very own Spirit who lives in us.
Yes, the church, the people of God, remain God's power and glory. How are we doing at representing this to our world? As they view our lives, both individually and corporately, are they catching a glimpse of the Lord and Savior who is both great and glorious? May God help us not to veil our Lord's majesty, but to put it on display for all to see. That's our high calling whose reality is hard to take in for its exalted station.