Can you get saved in the Episcopal Church?

Every Advent it’s the same thing. Our first Advent service comes after weeks of heavy commercialization in preparation for Christmas. The consumer culture defines the agenda. And then along we come with an opening hymn that starts off “Lo! He comes with clouds descending” and continues with themes that sound more appropriate to Good Friday than Christmas.

And then we hear a gospel that talks about people being taken away suddenly and a warning to keep awake so that we are not caught off guard by the coming of the Son of Man.

It all sounds rather apocalyptic, doesn’t it? Not a bit like what we think Christmas is about.

I think the Collect for First Sunday of Advent strikes the right balance between the celebration of God coming to us in “great humility” – think baby in a manger – and Christ coming again in “great majesty to judge both the living and the dead.” In this collect we ask God for the grace to “cast away the works of darkness and put on the armor of light” so that we may rise to the immortal life with God forever. In other words, we ask God for the grace to repent.

This apocalyptic theme immediately begs a question particularly relevant to us who are gathered here tonight: Can you get saved in the Episcopal Church?

This question is usually posed this way: “Are you saved?” or “Are you born again?” Has anyone ever asked you this? How did the question make you feel? What did you think?

Well, are you?

This question usually refers to a warm feeling you have had at some point at which you knew you were saved and when you consciously accepted Jesus Christ as your personal savior. It happens this way for some people and it’s a wonderful thing when it does. But it doesn’t have to happen this way in order to be saved.

One way to answer the question is “Yes, I’m saved – over, and over, and over again through baptism and the renewal of my baptismal vows and by asking for and receiving forgiveness when I go astray.” That’s the short answer.

A more complicated answer is that all that is implied in the question has never been part of the Anglican tradition or, for that matter, the mainstream Christian tradition from its earliest origins to the present.

The roots of question are in 18th century revivalism and the concept of “the consolation.” The basic idea is that we pray until we get the warm feeling associated with the presence of Christ and then turn ourselves over to him. This is based on an emotional approach to religion which has its place for some, but, we believe, not for everyone. And since we believe it is not for everyone, then we also believe that it is not necessarily a sign that we are saved. Think of this analogy: being “born again” is the emotional approach as opposed to the continual process approach – it’s like the difference between being stir-fried versus being baked in a nice warm slow oven. Anglicans reject the “are you saved?” mentality for two reasons.

First, the question suggests that there is no room for improvement – that perfection has already been achieved. The great danger here is complacency. Another is arrogance – the notion that we’re “in” and everyone else is “out.”

We believe that if we stray – and stray, we will – we stray as a prodigal child of a God who never stops loving us and never rejects us. Remember the story of the prodigal son in the gospel of Luke, how he rejected his family, lived a despicable life, and when he repented was welcomed with open arms and a celebration by his loving father? If we choose to return after straying, then we return through repentance and not through baptism.

The second reason Anglicans reject the “are you saved” mentality is that Anglicans believe salvation is a process. We believe that in this process we must change, grow, and mature spiritually. It is a life-long process and so we use the metaphor of a long journey to describe it.

There’s a novel set in Princeton you’ve all heard of called The Rule of Four. Well, I’m going to borrow that concept a bit and talk very briefly about four aspects of an Anglican understanding of salvation and then even more briefly about four steps toward repentance.

Here are four aspects of an Anglican understanding of salvation

1. We believe salvation begins with baptism. In baptism we are reborn by the Holy Spirit. (So, if anyone asks you if you are born again, the answer can always be “yes” if you are baptized.

Baptism is the rite by which we are initiated as Christians. In it we turn to Jesus Christ and accept him as our Savior an we are sealed and marked as Christ’s own forever. [Read the Baptism service in the BCP] But far from completing the process of becoming a Christian, in baptism we are just beginning the journey.

2. The salvation process is nurtured by the Eucharist – that great rehearsal and celebration of our salvation. The consecrated bread and wine are the food for the Christian traveler. Eucharist is central to our lives as Christian pilgrims because in it:

• we hear the scriptures read and rehearse the history of our salvation
• we hear the Gospel proclaimed
• we pray for the church, the world, others, ourselves
• we are reminded that our sins are forgiven if we ask for forgiveness
• we celebrate the real presence of the risen Christ among us and we are fed with spiritual food in communion
• we dedicate ourselves to serving Christ in the world as we prepare to depart.

In other words, we pray – implicitly and explicitly – “Lord Jesus, be known to us as you were known to your disciples in the breaking of the bread.”

3. As already mentioned there is continual growth. We stumble and fall, and then pick ourselves up again and keep on going. We stray and we return. As we receive communion we should say: “Out with self, out with envy, out with anger and self-centeredness, out with greed. In with Jesus, in with love, in with compassion, in with patience, in with understanding, in with love.” Our goal is to be able to say with Saint Paul: “It is not I, but Christ who is within me.”

4. Finally, honesty with ourselves is paramount. If life is a continuing process toward salvation, then continual repentance is key. And there is no true repentance without brutal honesty with oneself. You can’t fake repentance.

We come now to the four steps of repentance:

To repent we 1.) We acknowledge our sins to ourselves; 2.) We confess our sins to God; 3.) We ask those whom we have harmed or offended for forgiveness and we make restitution or reparations where necessary and where possible; 4.) We resolve to amend our lives, asking God’s help.

So to summarize, as Anglicans

§ We reject narrow definitions of what it means to be a Christian, of what it means to be saved.

§ We do not believe anyone has a corner on the salvation market.

§ We resist those who would tell us to read scriptures a certain way, worship a certain way, pray a certain way.

If you understand the following prayer attributed to an African-American slave, then you understand the Anglican approach to salvation:

Lord, I know that I’m not all that I ought to be;

And I know that I am not yet all that I’m going to be;

But, Lord, I sure thank you that I’m not what I used to be.

So as we prepare to celebrate the first coming of God among us in great humility and await his coming again in great majesty, let us resolve here and now to re-dedicate ourselves to the journey that will end with all of us rising to life immortal.

Amen.