Most Christians think of salvation as related exclusively to the afterlife. Salvation is when we die and get to go to heaven. to be sure, Scripture is concerned with our eternal fate. What has been obscured is Scripture's stress on salvation as invitation to share in a particular God's life here, now, so that we might do so forever. Salvation isn't just a destination; it is our vocation. Salvation isn't just a question of who is saved and who is damned, who will get to heave and how, but also how we are swept up into participation in the mystery of God who is Jesus Christ. Get a biblical concordance and check the references to heaven and you will find that almost none of them are related to "death." heaven is when or where one is fully with God - salvation.
Walt Bouman used to say we are God's 'saving' people. It makes every moment of our lives a part of the wonder-filled experience of living within God's Reign. We are people who are invited into a "particular God's life here, now." We can look back at the history of God's people and the stories of the Scriptures and we get a taste of what that saving life is all about. It is first of all something into which God invites us before there is any "scorecard" on our lives. It is one of the reasons I am so moved at baptisms and especially infant baptisms. With infants, the accent is so dependent on our God. The infant says nothing...does nothing...acts up and acts out...and yet, that child -by the power of the Holy Spirit- will take part in the unfolding of God's Reign. Salvation is about life - it is the domain we claim as our own because we have been pulled into its life by our God who will not let us go even if we choose to run away. Taking care of the poor, feeding the hungry, touching the untouchables, eating with the non-influential and forgotten is all a part of this grand participation in life that is called salvation. We do not take part in these things in order to be saved...this is all a part of the saving life handed to us so that no other life will control us and no other power can turn us away from the God who never ceases to call us beloved.
Connection: How will our salvation find expression in and through the life we live in the midst of the people around us? Don't get preachy now...get real...really in love with God's other beloved - that's salvation.
You bid us to come to you, O God, and share in the bountiful life that comes in the midst of your love for your people. Within that loving embrace we are saved for life that is filled with gracious acts and words of hope. We bless you, O God. Amen.
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