Kelsi Vanada

Dear Friends,

Recently, the Saint Philip’s Women’s Bible Study read Freeing Jesus by Diana Butler Bass. I was very taken by the section about Jesus as Savior.

Bass writes, “salvation did not seem to be a single act of confession; rather, it was the result of following Jesus…He was not killed so his death would save people; he was killed because he was already saving them.”

That runs pretty counter to what I was taught about salvation as I was growing up. Salvation meant that if you individually prayed the right prayer, confessing that Christ died on the cross to save you from your sins, you’d be reconciled with God and go to heaven when you died.

In that theology, as Bass points out, “A strange vision of God lies under the story—that God is angry with humankind…We sacrifice to change God’s mind, we offer up to pay off God…Salvation’s this for that.”

As you can see, I’m working to redefine salvation for myself. And I don’t diminish Christ’s work on the cross—I just want a fuller understanding of salvation.

In today’s New Testament reading, Paul encourages the Philippians to “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, enabling you both to will and to work for his good pleasure” (Philippians 2:12-13).

How do we work out our own salvation?

To share a final idea from Bass’ book: “‘salvation’ comes from the Latin salvus, which originally referred to being made whole, uninjured, safe, or in good health. Salvus was not about being taken out of this life; it was about this life being healed…When Jesus healed, [people] experienced salvus, God’s salvation. They followed him. Lives were changed, transformed.”

Paul says we have an ongoing part to play in working out our salvation—though we don’t have to go it alone.

We participate in the transformation God is working in us as we follow Jesus.

We participate in making life more whole, more meaningful, healthier, fuller, for ourselves and for others.

We participate in a life-changing relationship with God.

In our Episcopal tradition, part of how we work out our salvation is through the sacraments, and through our time-honored communal practices, rituals, and disciplines. For these, I am grateful.

In Christ,

—Kelsi