Date: 3/24/2003
Time: 1:33:28 PM
Interesting that we are not saved by our good works but we are created for, and saved for, the doing of good works. How easily we overlook v. 10. JRW in OH
Date: 3/25/2003
Time: 8:20:07 AM
This might be a good pericope to explore how Christians and "good people" may not necessarily be interchangeable. There are highly moral people of other religions, or who have no religion, whereas there are some pretty immoral Christians. It would do well in the congregation I serve to help these folks get in touch with "why they're Christian" other than "to go to Heaven" or "to do good things." How boastful to recognize that we "do good things."
Salvation is a gift from God, pure and simple. No different in nature than any other. Our deeds, also, are gifts from God.
Rambling, and on cough medicine, trying not to choke on all this pollen.
Sally in GA
Date: 3/25/2003
Time: 10:13:11 AM
Sally, that is a good question, why are we Christians? I have often wondered if salvation is the only thing of value from God for some people. Should we not love God for all that God gives? Nancy-Wi
Date: 3/26/2003
Time: 8:19:59 AM
My wife once asked me to preach a sermon entitled "Why being good isn't good enough?"
I think this might be a good week to address that topic. "Being good" might be a role, a false way to salvation, even a self-serving, controlling game. Maybe "being real" or "being whole" is better than "being good."
I still think "grace" is not as well talked about and understood by Christians. Coming from a background of conditional love, I still think I have to earn the love I receive. It is hard for me to receive love for free, and to give love freely.
I like to think of Salvation as being more than just delieverance from "damnation." I understand it has to do with health and wholeness. Being saved then is to be made well and whole. Then we can get into the idea that salvation was not just meant to be about individuals, but about the healing of the whole. We are either healed collectively, or we are not fully healed as one. It does seem so repugnant to our egos to say "I can't do it" and let go and let God. Brent in Pincher
Date: 3/26/2003
Time: 12:05:47 PM
we live in a society with so little grace. Kids kicked out of school with "zero tolerance" the first time they ever mess up. kids grounded all the time - when do they ever get grace? Thanks God that God isn't into punishment the way our society is.
grace and peace, rachel
Date: 3/26/2003
Time: 12:08:28 PM
A gift from God - salvation through faith.
I confess that the first things that come to my mind when I think of gifts from God are things like singing, or preaching, or hospitality or the spiritual gifts. I don't first think of "salvation." But thinking like this is putting the cart before the horse.
We usually think of the time of our conversion as the beginning of our faith walk, but God's been working on us for a long time prior to that. God has been "gifting" us all along even when we're not aware of it.
Thus, it seems foundational to be able to claim the first gift; that of human salvation. God-given abilities are just the details, the incidentals. Likewise, doing good works without knowing why (theologically) is also putting the cart before the horse. Both lack foundation, and open us up to being boastful (even to ourselves).
Like Brent, I know a little something about conditional love, and I know that most of my congregants probably do, too. It's something many people can identify with, and through works we're still trying to earn salvation. We say we're not, but we really are.
Rambling about -- can anyone help me?
Sally in gA
Date: 3/26/2003
Time: 1:50:10 PM
You were dead.
God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us
made us alive together with Christ
Date: 3/28/2003
Time: 12:44:53 PM
I'm going with at-one-ment, and following the theme of "Preaching the Revised common Lectionary." The authors suggest that this is about how to be a Christian, and actually follows pretty well the Gospel sermon on the Membership page. It's about our discipleship being about neither Chruch membership nor individualism - and both church membership and personal faith. They talk about two axes (my word) the vertical being our source of faith and the horizontal being our life in Christ.
so, in relating it to this particular congregation, and following what we've been working with in the Lenten devotionals, Bible study, and evangelism meeting, I'm going with the direction of "why am I (are you) a Christian?" Most of these folks have been brought up in the church and although I believe their faith to be sincere, I don't get a sense that they're "clued in" to why, other than they were brought up that way. This is especially important for us mainliners today - there are a myriad of choices out there and like Nicodemus (according to the sermon on the member page) mainliners have gotten out of touch with who/what they are before God! I just hope to encourage them to start thinking about what atonement really means - at-one-ment.
The Preaching the RCL poitns out 3 themes (how convenient) 1) life before v. life after Christ = difference between life and quality of life v. death and sapped energy ... 2) the transformation of life,f rom death to life, comes through the believer's relationship to Christ, byt he grace of God .... 3) The story of Christ himself personifies the meaning of salvation for the believer.
And a great quote, "the future is anticipated as greater than the present."
Thanks for bearing with me this week.
Sally in GA