Reflecting on the Journey
First, we’re loved; then, we love.
It was 6:23pm. Mountain Daylight Saving Time. Two Saturdays ago. Sherice and I were in Albuquerque, on our way back home. It was the last night of our vacation and we were headed to LaPlacita in Old Town for dinner. That’s when my cell phone dinged. It was a text from a friend here in Midland. “Hey Pastor Bob can I get your take on something?” T be honest, I hesitated, a moment. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to get into anything, just then. But, I typed “Sure” and hit send. The phone dinged, again. “From a Lutheran perspective what does it mean to be saved?” I read it, again …
From a Lutheran perspective what does it mean to be saved?
I was impressed. Intrigued. The question was simple. Straightforward. And I didn’t remember anyone ever asking me a question like it.
Billy Graham and all the other saints, all the other paragons of popular American Christianity, would have us believe that it’s all about heaven. Being saved is being rescued from hell and damnation. Being saved is being delivered from eternal punishment and everlasting pain. And being brought, instead, to the joys and glories of heaven. It’s enduring the here-and-now to receive the then-and-there. Receive Jesus. Open the door. And you’re bound for the promisedLand. You know what I mean. You’ve heard it all before. We Americans believe in an inerrant and infallible heaven, as much as we believe in an inerrant and infallible hell. “From a Lutheran perspective what does it mean to be saved?”
Well, I figured I had a few minutes. I responded. As much for me as for him. “Popular Lutherans,” I typed, “Popular Lutherans are, pretty much, like everyone else. So being saved is a heaven-and-hell kind of thing. Luther, on the other hand, doesn’t talk a whole lot ab out either. For him, being saved is being love! Being loved and loving!” I hit send, again, as we stepped through the motel room door.
You see, for us, being saved isn’t a destination. It’s not a matter of geography. Of longitude and latitude. For us, salvation is a mission. A purpose. It’s being loved by god. And then, it’s loving just as we’ve been loved! As simple. as straightforward, as the question itself. Of course, we assume it’s being plucked out of the fire and flames and handed halos and harps. We take for granted it’s about reward and punishment. It’s not. At least, not for us.
And I don’t think the bible has much to do with it. Dotted ‘i’s. Crossed ‘t’s. When we look for hell in the bible, when we look for heaven, there’s just not all that much there! It’s something we inherit from the world around us. From books like Dante’s Inferno … and Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress … Milton’s Paradise Lost … LaHaye’s Left Behind series … We see it because we’ve been taught, trained, to expect it!
What does it mean to be saved? Think about our service! The word ‘heaven’ is used four times! And never is it used as a brass ring or a kewpie doll! It’s used twice in the Lord ’s Prayer. Our Father in heaven! On earth as is! And it’s used two more times in the Creed. Maker of heaven and earth! Ascended into! And the word ‘hell’ … the word ‘hell’ is not used once! Not one, single, solitary time! Not since the creed was tweaked to confess that Jesus descended to the dead. Heaven and hell … Hell and heaven … in the popular sense of the concepts isn’t a part of who we are! Not as a gospel-rooted people! Not theologically speaking! But love … love is! Grace and charity and love! Compassion, mercy, and forgiveness! And our liturgy, our worship, is full of it!
Think back to the briefOrder with which we began worship, this morning. We confess our sin. But there’s no fire! No smoke! We’re not told we going to hell unless … That we’re damned forever until … We simply admit that we’re not the people god wants us to be. That we don’t do what god wants us to do. Thought. Word. Deed. Done. Undone. And it all gets down to this … We. Have not. Loved. Not god. Not others. But, funny thing, we don’t say we’re sorry. We don’t say we’ll do better. Try harder. We don’t, even, ask god not to punish us. All we ask is that god changes us! Makes us different! Makes us new! “Forgive us,” we said! “Renew us!” “Lead us!” “So that we delight in your will! Walk in your ways!” And heaven – heaven and hell – aren’t a part of it! They, just, aren’t us!
Our sin is that we don’t love! That we can’t love! Love god! Love our neighbor! Truth be told, can’t, don’t, love, even, ourselves! And no amount, no degree, of threats, of ultimate, will change that! The only thing that can change not being able to love, is love itself! The only way to begin to love is by, first, being loved! God loves us! God loves us so much that god gives Jesus! God loves us so much that god gives Jesus to love us! So that we, in turn – not in return, but in turn – may love in the exact same way! That’s the greatest commandment! That’s the new creation! That’s being reborn!
That’s why we’re here! Sunday after Sunday! Week after week! That’s why we do what we do! That’s who we are! God loves us! Loves the apathy out of us! Loves the hate out of us! Loves the hell out of us! So that we can, at last … So that we can, finally … go and do the same! Our heaven isn’t up high and far away! Our heaven isn’t locked away behind gates of pearl! Our heaven is right here! In the words of love spoken to us! In the words of love spoken by us! In the songs we sing! In the prayers we offer! In the water that drips from our fingers! In the bread we break, the wine we pour! Echoes and reflections of the love with which god, first, loves us!
We don’t believe in heaven or hell. We believe in love! We believe in god’s love! Pressed down! Shaken together! Overflowing! Overflowing and spilling out into the world! Through the church! Through god’s people! Through you! Me! We’re not here to find our way into heaven. And our mission isn’t to bring with us as many people as we can. We’re here to be loved by god! Loved in thought! Loved in word! In deed! We’re here to trust it! To believe in it! To stake our life on it! And then, love one another! Love our neighbor! Love all creation!
So the question is impressive! As impressive as it is intriguing! “Pastor Bob, from a Lutheran perspective what does it mean to be saved?” It means that we’re loved! And it means we love! Love not because we’re liberal … not because we’re conservative … We love … Love all because of Jesus!