Rogue Reverend

They Talk About Salvation

Texts: Acts 4:5-12 and George Herbert’s poem, The Pulley

WHEN God at first made man,
Having a glasse of blessings standing by ;
Let us (said he) poure on him all we can :
Let the worlds riches, which dispersed lie,
Contract into a span.

A friend had a speaking engagement recently. In one part of the group learning experience, my friend asked the participants to introduce themselves, telling three wonderful qualities about themselves. As one participant went to answer, she gave two wonderful qualities, then said, “Ummm. Ummmm. Ummmm.” After three minutes, the leader finally called time. The participant could only came up with two good qualities.

So, do you have three qualities? What are they? I don’t want you to say them outloud, but I do want you to think of three of them. Raise your hand when you’ve come up with them, and then I’ll continue.

So strength first made a way ;
Then beautie flow’d, then wisdome, honour, pleasure :
When almost all was out, God made a stay,
Perceiving that alone, of all his treasure,
Rest in the bottome lay.

According to Herbert, we’ve got beauty, wisdom, honor, and pleasure, but we don’t have rest. God gave us all these amazing things, but we’re TIRED.

I picked up a book this week, with my new Union PSCE library card!, by Ed Friedman, a Rabbi best know for family systems therapy. The book is a collection of essays, starting with an interview of Satan, who Friedman calls the first family therapist. I thought I’d read for you Satan’s thoughts on the creation:

I’d like to start with a rather simple question. I’ve always wondered why you began with Eve. Why didn’t you go straight to Adam and give him the fruit yourself?

I could see right from “the beginning” — the second version is correct, by the way — they were created simultaneously— that the male of this species was not going to be the more aggressive one. Frankly, Adam was passive as hell. He would have stayed in that Garden till the end of time. Eve, on the other hand, had fire in her, desire, a sense of adventure, curiosity. And I realized if I was going to have to choose between an eternal struggle with this new species or absolute boredom forever, I’d better choose the former. Besides, the Creator wanted it that way.

He was using you?

If you must know, unlike some of the other gods, such as Mars or Venus or Neptune, this One makes life very difficult for himself. He wants his creatures to grow.

Then there are other gods?

Not in this universe. They all originally trained here and then went on to create their own worlds. Like Elohim they created their creatures in their own image. The difference was in the problem of reproduction. In Venus’s world everyone loves all the time; in Mars’s world they are perpetually at war. But Elohim wanted to try something different. The Creator saw himself as a God of individuation, of differentiation, of process; life was always to be in the act of becoming; the creatures might even be seen as co-creators. The problem was you can’t clone differentiation no matter how well differentiated the primary copy. Every parent knows that. So the critical component in the plan was that life was always to be challenging, and the secret to the process of becoming was in a creature’s response to challenge.

For if I should (said he)
Bestow this jewell also on my creature,
He would adore my gifts in stead of me,
And rest in Nature, not the God of Nature :
So both should losers be.

Our text this morning is from the Book of Acts. You heard it read a couple of minutes ago, but there’s a special word in Greek in there, that is used in two different ways. It’s sozo. It means to be saved or to be healed. In almost all of the English translations, it’s used in two different ways in this passage. Here’s the passage with it used just one way:

Acts 4:5-12

The next day their rulers, elders, and scribes assembled in Jerusalem, with Annas the high priest, Caiaphas, John, and Alexander, and all who were of the high-priestly family.

When they had made the prisoners stand in their midst, they inquired, “By what power or by what name did you do this?”

Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers of the people and elders, if we are questioned today because of a good deed done to someone who was sick and are asked how this man has been healed, let it be known to all of you, and to all the people of Israel, that this man is standing before you in good health by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead. This Jesus is ‘the stone that was rejected by you, the builders; it has become the cornerstone.’ There is healing in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among mortals by which we may be healed.”

Or how about this:

Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers of the people and elders, if we are questioned today because of a good deed done to someone who was sick and are asked how this man has been made whole, let it be known to all of you, and to all the people of Israel, that this man is standing before you, made whole by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead. This Jesus is ‘the stone that was rejected by you, the builders; it has become the cornerstone.’ There is no being made whole in anyone else, for there is no other name under heaven given among mortals by which we may be made whole.”

How much difference does this make?

Yet let him keep the rest,
But keep them with repining restlesnesse :
Let him be rich and wearie, that at least,
If goodnesse leade him not, yet wearinesse
May tosse him to my breast.

I attended a funeral yesterday. Now, I don’t know about you, but I always dread funerals in places that I’m not familiar with. Especially if you’re from Alabama, you come to know that people are going to be working extra hard at funerals to get you saved. They say, “I know this person was saved, but are you?” Or, “If you ever want to get to heaven, you’ll accept Jesus and get saved, so that you can see this person again.” Or they say, “This person lived with hope because they knew Jesus. Do you have hope?” Or, the worst, “This person is in heaven, where you won’t be unless you accept Jesus.”

They talk a lot about salvation.

They talk a lot about our unworthiness. But like Herbert says, we have blessings. We all have blessings, both our personalities, our ability to love, our goodness. We are GOOD, not evil. We are loving, not fearful. At our most core, we are powerful, not weak.

They talk a lot about salvation.

They talk about personal relationship with Jesus Christ, but they don’t talk about relationship with community. They play on our fear of death. They play on our fear of suffering. They play on our fears of being alone. They tell us that being sad that someone is gone is a sin and fear-based.

They talk a lot about salvation.

They skip over the most important part. That we serve a God who wants us to grow. A God who wants us to be whole. It’s not about avoiding suffering, but about joining in a community working toward a better world. It’s not about where you’re gonna spend eternity. It’s about NOW. It’s not about the what you’re going to do. It’s about how you’re gonna be.