01/30/2023
H/t Steven W Eubanks
A great follow up to the Beattitudes today.
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10222514998572770&id=1504530535&mibextid=Nif5oz
Chris Kratzer wrote...
"The word translated as "salvation" in the Bible is the word "sozo" in Greek. It means "wholeness." Wholeness of mind, body, and spirit. Wholeness of humanity. Wholeness of creation. Wholeness universally. Wholeness…period.
To the frustration of the religious, salvation is not getting out of hell into heaven, becoming "holy," or being set above or apart from anyone or anything. It is not a repentance of individual sin nor a profession of personal faith.
Instead, it is an awakening to the already all-inclusive and inseparable wholeness of all with All, and the recalibration of all life to that eternal reality.
For Jesus did not come to bring about salvation–it always was and forever has been. All are whole, holy, and in full union and communion with the Divine from the beginning. Instead, He announced it, demonstrated it, and sought to awaken us to its potential manifestation on earth.
Therefore, there is no "salvation" that is not connected with the salvation of all; the wholeness of everyone and everything, interconnected into wholeness.
In fact, any faith that sets itself apart or above, teaches human separateness from the Divine, sows division, marginalizes the different, or envisions an eternal separation of people from anyone or anything is not a faith of "salvation." We can never be whole until all are whole and all is whole. That's the heart, essence, and reality of "salvation."
Therefore, salvation cannot and does not come while racism exists. It does not come when sexism still breathes life.
It cannot and does not come while the poor are still poor. It does not come while shame and condemnation are tools of the religious.
It cannot and does not come while the earth is pillaged. It does not come while violence, oppression, and sin among the religious is spiritually justified.
It cannot and does not come while greed and privilege rule a society. It does not come while the vulnerable are exploited.
For those who claim "salvation" yet do not acknowledge and celebrate the true wholeness of all, with all, and in All, and do not seek its manifestation on earth, are still not whole nor "saved" themselves. Instead, many become the wolves in sheep's clothing, the white-washed tombs, the blind guides, the hypocrites. They see and seek for themselves what they deny in others and deny for others.
Yet, to their fiery frustration and demise, Jesus is not interested in their individual salvation, it does not even exist. But rather His way is in the wholeness/renewal of all things; mind, body, spirit, humanity, community, earth, and the universe; all together.
For Jesus, social justice is salvation.
Racial justice is salvation.
Equality is salvation.
Universal healthcare is salvation.
Living wages is salvation.
For Jesus, the death of toxic Christianity is salvation.
The death of patriarchy is salvation.
The death of war is salvation.
The death of religious elitism is salvation.
The death of political greed and oppression is salvation.
In fact, there can be no salvation without them.
All else is but a gospel that is no Gospel at all.
Wholeness for all, with all, in All. That's good news.
May what already is become what is.
Because of love.
Grace is brave. Be brave.
