Continuing my nine thesis of how we experience salvation in the ordinary life of the church.
Fourth, in a culture that trumpets the survival of the fittest, the church offers a healing community which allows God’s strength to be made perfect in our freely acknowledged weakness. We are saved from the need to be perfect. Consider what a powerful message this is for a society that is enslaved to competitiveness.
Fifth, in a culture that places incredible stress and pressure on people’s lives, the church offers us a regular Sabbath where we can step off the treadmill and refocus on the meaning of life through regular worship, prayer and study of God’s Word in the community. It is very easy to lose sight of what is important in life. The Sabbath calls a halt to our compulsion to achieve and refocuses our awareness that real meaning is found in relationships with God and neighbor.
Sixth, in a culture that is increasingly fractured by the tribalism of ethnic, sexual and age divisions, the church offers the witness of Christ who breaks down the barriers that divide us and offers hospitiality to all strangers who desire to experience the healing love of God. While we may struggle to embody this reality, we are continually presented with the saving truth that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Godself and not counting our trespasses against us (2 Corinthians 5:19). It is this central truth that enables us to even consider the possibility of loving our enemy.
