Salvation within the Church community

The following is taken and slightly adapted from a sermon delivered on October 5, 2014 at Saginaw United Methodist Church.

“They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. Awe came upon everyone, because many wonders and signs were being done by the apostles. All who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need. Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having the goodwill of all the people. And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.””

— Acts 2:42-47

Traditionally we read Acts 2:42-47 and think that the early church was experiencing rapid numeric growth. That is to say that everyday the Lord added new people to the church community.

I am sure the early church grew in numeric "metrics".

But could it also not be the case that all this face to face time with their neighbor and face to face time with God that more people who were already in the community were being saved?

If you did not have to worry about food. If you had a group of people you could count on to be there for you when times were difficult. If you feel the Peace of Christ in your life every waking moment. If you did not have to worry about paying rent when you lost your job because a community would help you out in your time. If you did not need to worry about your medical bills because you had a community that would sell what they owned in order to ensure you were treated. If you had all these things and more, would you not be saved?

Saved from anxiety, worry, fear and isolation.

Sometimes we talk about the world needs to be saved as though we are not the ones we are talking about. We need to save those people out there by getting them in here. And if we did that then the Lord would add to the number of people being saved.

I would argue that all of us need salvation (aka: health and wholeness). All of us need a community. All of us need meaningful relationships. All of us need face to face time in the relationships that nurture healing and wholeness.

Reclaiming "I am blessed."

There are words that I do not use because of the horrible and painful history around those words. Most (all?) of these words are not in my ability or even desire to help redeem.

There are words that I do not use because they have been used and reallocated. Most (all?) of these words are in my ability or desire to help redeem. 

"I am blessed" needs to and can be redeemed. Here is my contribution.

"I am blessed" is not something that I use because it has been used and reallocated by some variations of the gospel of prosperity. The vast majority of the time I hear "I am blessed" it is in relation to how much stuff (family, experiences, money, toys, etc.) a person has. It is a statement about accumulation. It is a statement, I think, meant to remind the person that all that they have is a result of something. The American gospel of prosperity says that you got all this stuff because you personally earned it with no help. The religious gospel of prosperity says that you got all this stuff because you are doing something right that pleases the god(s).

The underlying assumption in the "I am blessed" conversations is that being blessed means being independent and not having to rely on others. Although Jesus might have said it, we typically do not think that the poor, the mourning, the meek, the hungry and thirsty, the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers and the persecuted (Matthew 5). 

I would like to reclaim the "I am blessed" as I understand Jesus assuming it to be. Being blessed means you are one who is keenly aware of the interdependence of life.

Art Roy Remy

Being poor, mourning, meek, hungry and thirsty, merciful, pure in heart, a peacemakers and/or persecuted are all situations in life that require interdependence if we are going to make it through those situations. 

Being blessed, as I understand Jesus, is to be one who is aware of just how small we are in the vastness of life. It is to be aware of just how much we need one another and need God. It is to be aware of how we are all just barely making it.

You can be rich and aware of your smallness and interdependence. But, like Jesus said, it is very hard to do. It is hard to not because the accumulation of stuff is bad or evil but because the stuff allows you and I to feel independent and not interdependent.  

Being correct and stuck behind a bus

The school bus was stopped and even though the lights were flashing, the door was not opened and the driver side "stop sign" was not out. It was not clear if the bus was waiting for a student or if there was even a driver at the helm. What was clear was that we were all stopped behind this bus. 

We waited there for a while when the driver between me and the bus threw her hands up in the air and looked in her rearview mirror as if to say, "I don't know what to do. I know the five cars behind me are waiting for me to act, but I don't know what to do!" 

Sensing her angst, I looked right at her. I began to nod my head while I gave her a thumbs up with my right hand and a gesture with my left hand motioning to go around. It was okay. Go around the bus. 

Once she as the lead car was went around the bus we could all see the driver was not on board. I could also see the driver in front of me giving me a thumbs up which I interpreted as "Thanks."

This is what happens when we put being correct over being connected.

Many times we are in our little bubbles isolated from one another and just sort of stuck, not going anywhere. We all know that it is correct to not go around a school bus and so we don't go around the bus. We are correct. Stuck and not going anywhere, but correct.

This is the dilemma that I feel like I am in most days. There are people that are hell bent on being correct. Politicians say they are correct while pointing out others are not correct. Fundamentalists (religious and secular) point out they are correct and argue for others to "look at the facts". The journey after truth is so rampant in our time that, frankly, I grow tired of it. 

We are all think we are correct. We all have our sources that support and validate our positions. We all think others who don't see like us are not correct and they need to be converted. So we argue, debate and yell our points thinking that if only we could convey our correctness (and our correct supports) then others will join us.

When was the last time you were convinced by a debate? When was the last time you were swayed to change your mind when you were in an argument? When was the last time you gave way to the other's point of view and adopted it as your own when there was yelling? 

Frankly, I am much more interested in being connected than being correct. When you seek out connection and when you are connected with others you are at your most influential and it is also, in the greatest bit of irony, the time when you no longer are looking to influence people to your point of view. 

Imprints - Clergy making an imprint on God's world through publishing

In the book Culture Making: Rediscovering Our Creative Calling, Andy Crouch makes the argument that the only way to change culture is to make more culture to give options for people. So if you don't like something, like a movie or a book or a tradition or whatever, instead of critiquing or condemning it, if you really want to change things you have to cultivate and create new cultural options. (Thus another reason I like the idea that we have to be the change we wish to see in the world. We have to do the work of cultivating and creating in the world rather than consuming, copying, critiquing and condemning.)

Yes, Imprints looks like the Five Thousand Words Publication (see the "About" page for more info about Five Thousand Words.)

I have created a magazine that I call Imprints with this in mind. 

Imprints is a magazine that will be a curated collection of the published works of the clergy of the Central Texas Conference. It is a single source that people can see what "imprint" the clergy of my conference are making in the wider Christian conversation. It is my hope that this resource might help us in the CTC build relationships of mutual support and respect. We need to be a clergy group that is willing to share the work of our peers in order to build one another up. And what is good for the clergy for the CTC is good for the CTC.

Bottom line, I believe in the work of my clergy peers and feel like what they contribute is worth everyone taking a look at. There is some amazing work out there and you may not know about it just because you happen to live in Fort Worth and don't know the people in Waco. 

Take a look a Imprints here or on the top menu bar. As a new edition comes out I will post so that you can read/see it. 

If you subscribe to this blog you just got a free magazine subscription. Thank you Central Texas Conference clergy for your imprint on God's world.