Saved From What? Saved For What?

Until I get around to uploading my vacation photos...I suppose I'll have to do some theology here.

Here is a great essay by Fr. Martin Smith, "Are We Still in the Salvation Business?", that I've been passing along to my churchy friends. It's about the Church, in these latter days, reclaiming the term "salvation" from its current loaded and exclusionary definition, and returning to its roots of wholeness and meaning -- two things sadly lacking in much of modern life.

Being a member of our church Evangelism Committee -- more proof, if you need it, that God has a rollicking sense of humor -- this piece spoke to me. And especially since my own parish's circa-1950's constitutional definition of "evangelism" -- basically going after backsliders and hitting them up for what amounted to a membership fee to continue their hatching/matching/dispatching privileges at our church -- is so utterly stupid, and contrary to the Gospel, and not what we're about as a faith community.

It's a great article; hat tip to bls of The Topmost Apple .