March 7, 2004; The Second Sunday in Lent Readings: Genesis 15:1-12; Philippians 3:17-21—4:1; Luke: 13:22-35; Psalm 27:10-18.   The Rev. Dr. Hilary B. Smith Salvation Someone asked him, "Lord, will only a few be saved?" "Are you saved?" That was the question asked by the campus crusaders of my college days. Jesus said: "Strive to enter through the narrow door." For many campus crusaders, the door was very narrow indeed. There was one way—their way. If you did not know the right words to say to these young crusaders, you would see this look in their eyes. It was the look that said: "Weeping and gnashing of teeth for you—definitely." Many people find their way to the Episcopal Church because we tend to focus on God’s love and mercy. We focus on God’s power to transform lives. We speak more of God’s forgiveness than we do of our sins. Why do we focus more on God’s forgiveness? We do so because we believe that God’s ability to reach us, and save us, far exceeds our ability to deny God access to our lives. The problem comes, however, in that we can neglect to deal with the topic of sin. One of the most famous preachers produced by the Episcopal Church, Barbara Brown Taylor, wrote a book entitled, Speaking of Sin: The Lost Language of Salvation (Boston: Cowley Publications, 2000). Great title. It makes the point that salvation is directly related to our need of it. When we stop talking about sin, we miss the point of salvation. Taylor notes that the mainline churches tend not to speak about sin. Why? Probably because the way sin used to be preached, and still is in the churches we have chosen to attend, too much emphasis was put on sin and not enough on salvation. It is not easy to get the balance right: one can miss the mark in either direction. While we focus on God’s grace, in the scripture we do hear those words, "Strive to enter through the narrow door." We are called to work at our faith and seek to grow in holiness. God is always there, but we do have to seek to find. The Christian life itself is the narrow door; it is way. It is not easy; it is not supposed to be. While people who are not Christians might be able to say, "I will never forgive," a person striving to enter through the narrow door cannot say that. The narrow path is not easy but it leads to abundant life. By coming here today we have said, "Yes, Lord show me the path of salvation." Show me the narrow way: the way of love that overcomes hate; the way of hope that overcomes fear; the way of forgiveness that overcomes sin; the way of new life that overcomes death. This is the narrow door that we enter being guided by our Savior. As we heard in our opening prayer: It is God’s glory to be merciful. Who are we to deny God’s glory? Thus, to speak of sin is to speak of salvation. When a person, such as a campus crusader asks, "have you been saved," it sounds a one-time event. While some of us can name a moment that changed our lives, God saves us again and again. In the early years of the faith, people would wait to be baptized until they were near death to be baptized because they believed that all sins after baptism could not be forgiven. The idea was that once you had been united with Christ you should not leave him. When the practice of making one’s confession to a priest and being absolved came to be used, many viewed it as too easy. The church, in its wisdom, however, realized that baptism did not change human nature. Rather, baptism establishes a relationship that needs care, honesty and forgiveness, much like human relationships. Therefore the practice of absolving sins developed. As one grows in self-knowledge and in knowledge of God, sins become easier to see. Therefore, as one grows in holiness, one can have more to confess rather than less. Lent is a time to be refreshed by acknowledging the ways that we sin by thoughts, words, and deeds, and receiving the forgiveness that God wants to give us. The word "Lent" actually comes from an Old English word meaning "Spring." The work of Lent is about being renewed and experiencing new life. When I know that my sins are forgiven, I feel renewed and refreshed. Salvation comes again and again because God does not condemn us. God will never say, "That’s it; I’ve had enough of you." We turn to God, and God is there. God is there to forgive and to restore. In his book Mending the Heart, John Claypool states that: "Life is not a spelling bee in which we are lined up against a blackboard and given hearer and hearer words to spell—and if we miss one word we can never play again." Rather, "...God is more interested in our future than in our past, more interested in the kind of person we can yet become than the person we used to be (Boston: Cowley Publications, 1999, pp. 33-34)." God is much more forgiving of us than we tend to be of ourselves. That is salvation. Amen.