New World A-Comin'

It is the wide embrace of God; the idea of God's chosen people has been utterly transformed from being merely genetic to being whoever will hear the invitation with joy.

We are invited to be part of a grand, cosmic revolution.

Jesus is raising the dead, re-creating the world.

It is Easter and Genesis all over again.

If we are going to have an “adequate place of hope”, if we are going to have salvation,

as the supreme irony we are going to receive it from the one whom we killed because he saved sinners.!

An astute observer has said that it would be less challenging for us if we were saved through some benign, serene therapist who murmured sweetly “I love you just the way you are; promise me you won't change a thing.”

Salvationis when we recognize that “While we were yet sinners Christ died for us.”[Romans 5:8] and he will not let death or anything else stand in the way of putting back together the community and relationships that have been torn apart by our sin.

Most often when the word salvation gets thrown around in conversation it is in a very individual context. “Have you been saved?”

But our Second Lesson today is pointing to a much wider framework for understanding.

God's salvation operation is cosmic: it is to gather up all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth..

The opponents are wide-spread also: The rulers, the authorities, the cosmic powers of darkness, the spiritual forces of evil in high places are considerably more than mere enemies of flesh and blood.

And the battleground is everywhere..

Even though the victory was won at the Cross and empty tomb on Easter morning, the powers of evil are not giving up easily or quickly.

They still try to entice and destroy anyway!

How many persons have been killed in battles that have taken place after wars have been officially ended? It happens all the time.

And so the hymn that we sing shortly reflects that ongoing conflict, which we dare not minimize.

It is real, and dangerous.

Evil is always lurking about us, “seeking someone to devour” as scripture phrases it.

Salvation unto us has come

By God's free grace and favor...

one of the Reformation era hymn-writers sang to us.

[LBW#298 Es ist das Heil]

Faith clings to Jesus' cross alone

And rests in him unceasing;

And by its fruits true faith is known,

With love and hope increasing.

The hymn-writer understood the connection between hope and salvation.

Where the content of hope is full and trustworthy in the person of Jesus – and we know that it is since he has conquered every enemy including death – then we have already the treasure of salvation, even on this side of the grave, in anticipation.

We are so anxious about so many things, and the problems of modern everyday life are significant indeed.

But we do need to keep them in perspective.

They are not ultimate problems; those problems have already been handled by Jesus.

What is left are the everyday sorts of situations: the pains of failing bodies, the heartaches of broken relationships, the worries about life-sustaining work and activities .

We can get up in the morning and work on these problems because the overarching problem, the problem of salvation, the focus of our hope in Jesus Christ, is settled and sure – the new world is a-comin' in God's good time.

There is another of our hymns that, although it does not use the word salvation, captures the mood of serenity engendered by trusting Jesus' promise of salvation.

Let's turn to hymn 469 and read the text:

Lord of all hopefulness,...

[copyrighted text omitted here]

To be serene does not not mean to be weak; it means to know to whom we belong, and how we are connected, and who stands behind us and beside us, and who goes in front of us in facing every enemy including death, and who wins the ultimate battle, and whose promise will endure, and whose promise includes us within it.

We know who it is in whom we place our hope.

In summary, we have a good working definition for the term salvation.

Knowing all this, then we are ready to sing Lead On O King Eternal; because there is a new world a-comin', for Miranda, for us, and for all whom Jesus calls.

Amen

Please note: The preceding sermon is provided as a resource for the thought, prayer, and meditation of the members and friends of St. Mark's. It is the residue of a verbal event, and thus it does not have academic footnotes and other details that would be expected in a written document. The writer gladly acknowledges the prior thought and work of many Christians before him.