There’s a debate in Christian theology around the notion of “once saved always saved”. Some traditions claim that once you profess Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, that you are saved, once and for all. Once saved, always saved.
Methodists are not among those traditions. We believe that Christ’s saving work is perfect and complete. And that professing Jesus as Lord and Savior is about being saved over and over and over again. Being saved in the ongoing sense. Professing Christ is about
claiming a relationship with him each and every day in a way that is constantly transforming the way you live in the world.
Being saved is about receiving Jesus’ gifts of grace and forgiveness not so we simply feel better about ourselves but so we become better in and of ourselves. But it didn't start with Jesus. Living a transformed life has been God’s business from the very beginning.
In the story of Moses and the 10 commandments, God gives us the laws to follow to live the way God desires-with a healthy, loving, and fruitful relationship with God and with each other. The laws helped for a bit, but people are sinful and prone to wander and wander we did. So, God called us back (I know, some of you are thinking, “no, God called the Israelites back.” and God did. And their story is our story. Our disobedience is just like theirs and God’s call back to faithfulness is consistent). So, God calls us back. “Hey, over here! These are the rules! Get back on track!” And so we do. For a time. Then we wander. It’s the story of human history.
In today’s passage, we hear God through the prophet Isaiah, rejecting our sinfulness and clamoring for our attention and obedience. And it’s not kind.
God says, “Look, you’ve fallen away from me and my will. And while I can appreciate your actions of sacrifice, ritual and worship...that’s not really what I want. What I want is you to live well with each other. What I want is for you to reject selfishness, pride, and hate, and to embrace a mutuality of community and compassion.
The prophet tells us that God doesn’t even want to listen to our prayers when we are filled with vileness and hate. I don’t know about for you, but that runs counter to what I think about God. God always loves us. God always welcomes us. But here, the scripture says God is going to ignore our pleas as long as we have blood on our hands. What? First off, there’s no blood here. God has to hear me. Right? But if I’m complicit in injustice. If I refuse to take a stand to protect those who are beaten and battered, don’t I become an accomplice in the crime?
None of us want to be indicted for injustice. We don’t want to believe we have blood on our hands. We definitely don’t want to be ignored by God when we pray. But if we’ve been watching the news and listening, truly listening, to the stories of our black and brown brothers and sisters, then we already know we’re guilty. Don’t we?
I know our congregation is diverse, in-person, and online. I don’t want to overgeneralize. I also know, most of us are white, so I’m going to stop here and confirm because I don’t want to assume, we as white people can see there is a problem in our country. Right? One that relates to us as a people and our ancestors and the systems that support racism and hatred of people based on the color of their skin. And even if we think, “but I don’t hate people because of their skin color” we know some of that hatred is ingrained in us in ways we can’t even always see or recognize. By the power and privilege we have as white folk, we are part of the larger problem of injustice in our community and our nation. Are we on that page together?
So maybe when we hear the words of the prophet, we do hear our own indictment and know something needs to be different. Now, God doesn’t leave us there accused and scorned. God says there is a way of redemption. Do good. Seek justice. Care for the poor, the weak, and the oppressed. Do something.
And many of us are stuck there. We want to do something. We want to be better. We don’t want to do things that diminish those around us. We don’t want to be part of a system of hate that turns a blind eye to insidious and sickening mistreatment of others. But we don’t know how to change it all. We don’t know how to make it better. Some of us have been having these discussions and advocating for change for DECADES. We’ve been working at the gospel--at loving our neighbor and including the outcast and yet somehow these ginormous problems of our society aren’t much better. So we get stuck. Or we feel stuck. What do we do? How do we do it? How do we really move forward in a way that changes who we are as a nation so that each person is valued and treated in the ways God desires?
I don’t have all the answers. But I know we have to keep examining ourselves. We have to keep learning. We have to keep listening to the stories and voices that don’t resemble ours. We have to dare to be wrong and be humble enough to admit we need to change--something--in us or our society, or both and courageous enough to work at it. Persistent enough to keep at it even when we’ve already been doing it for a lifetime.
There is a road forward. And it is a road that requires a lot of work on our part. We can be a light. We can represent what it means to commit to being better and doing better for the sake of the gospel--for the sake of those around us, particularly those who are most mistreated and misunderstood.
And know this, that no matter how broken and guilty you are, there is forgiveness, there is pardon, there is new life. God offers that even here through the prophet. God says, that no matter how stained you are, God will wash you clean...as long as you seek God and live the way God requires.