Saturday, March 14, 2009

___________

I was looking over an application from an organization that sponsors mission trips and noticed one of the items of information it called for:

Date of Salvation ____

I was thinking about it and asked a couple of friends what they thought John Wesley would have put down for that.

"His birthday.  1703!"

"Maybe when he was rescued from the burning rectory?"

"How about when he saw the tears on the checks of the coal miners when he started preaching to them above God's grace?"

"Could it have been on that ship when he saw the calmness of the Moravians during the storm?"

"Lots of people would say when he felt his 'heart strangely warmed' at Aldersgate- what was that, 1738?"

"I think it's when he realized in he wasn't making much headway converting the Indians in America, so he headed back to England"  (One of my friends is a Buddhist)

In as much as I think of Salvation in the terms of the title of today's reading- "Returning", and in Nouwen's phrase "God... embracing us"; I suppose we could try to figure out what the prodigal son would put down for his date of salvation.

Was it when he was born into such a home of wealth and grace?  Was it when he received his inheritance?  When he discovered the freedom of being on his own and doing what he wanted to do?  Was it when he realized the misery his choices led to?  Was it when he decided to "leave this place and go to my father"?  Maybe it was when he realized he wasn't what he thought he was.  Or, was it when he father decided to start looking for him in the distance, or was it when his father saw him.  When he ran to him?  When he clasped him in his arms?  When he kissed him?

So what would I put down?

Was it my earliest memory of my whole family driving around and visiting churches every Sunday in the new town until we found our church home?  Maybe it was when I awkwardly got out of my seat at MYF and came down to the camp fire and said to the counselor: "I'm in."  But maybe it was when I started dating my wife and after I told her I didn't really go to church anymore and she said, "Wanna come to church with me?"  Or could it have been, after our two daughters got a little older, my wife said, "Let's go back to church."  But then again it could have been the time that I thought I was the world's worst father for taking my family from a community and friends they adored to a new place.  They were miserable.  But a colleague commented one morning: "I saw you throwing the softball with your daughter last night on the field-- you're a good dad."  It might be one of the times upon returning home after a day when the programs don't seem to be working and I'm not doing a very good job of leading. But the note stuck to the closet door says: "I love my daddy."  Or it could be those dates when I sit around a table with 12 or so people and they say to one another after 33 weeks of bible study together: "There's lots more to you than you think."

I guess one thing's for sure.  If we ever put such an item on a mission trip application it will have to look something like this:

Dates of Salvation (optional)
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
(use back of form if necessary)

1 comment:

  1. Forrest, I could not help thinking of this posting in yesterday’s Closer Look class on Methodist history and theology. As we went through John Wesley’s descriptions of grace (prevenient, justifying, sanctifying), with time only to provide a few sentences about each, it occurred to me we would have done better just to read your list. I’ve never been able to explain prevenient grace and sanctifying grace without losing half of my audience, seeing nothing but blank stares on faces—a reason to be grateful Ken was explaining this and not me!

    I know this will sound like a strange date, but one of my “saving dates” is when I first heard about these types of grace. I was not raised in the United Methodist church, and did not realize that there was anything special about Methodist theology. I remember the first time I heard about John Wesley’s understanding of free will, grace, and a salvation that doesn’t stop with forgiveness and being made right with God but includes new birth and God continuing to transform our lives as long as we allow this.

    When I heard this description, I recognized so much of my own history. As a young adult I spent a several years deliberately keeping God at a distance. I knew that it was possible to choose running away from God; the longer I did so, the easier it became. Yet, on my return, God welcomed me. With every return, God welcomed me! I knew also that as I made myself more available to God, I had grown in faith and trust. God always takes my offerings, no matter how small, and uses them to change me.

    So one of my “saving dates” is the day that I found my theological home—a doctrinal home where I knew that no matter the circumstances, God always desires our turning to God. It doesn’t matter if we’ve never heard of God—God still longs for and provides means for us to turn to God. It doesn’t matter if we’ve been friends with God for a lifetime—God still longs for and provides new ways for us to turn to God, to grow in love of God and others.

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