On Salvation and such

I became an uncle for the first time this week.  I only have one sibling and we only have two cousins, so a birth in our family is a very big deal.  I planned my stateside travels to correspond to this momentous occasion, but obviously my plans didn't line up with reality.  I'm glad though.  Because I won't have much time with their new family, I'm glad that I will come after some of the buzz has buzzed out so I can have more time with Hemi and Rebecca and Mike.

But I had a small revelation about salvation while I followed the birth ordeal via Skype.  Next semester Pastor Volodya and I are going to focus on the Kingdom of God with the students.  We want to preach salvation, but we want to preach the full Gospel.  We've got a lot of prayer and study ahead of us, because these are the problems that face most ministries to, with, and for young people.

Rebecca gave birth to Hemi Tucker Miller by C-section.  While his father and grandmother each held him briefly, his mother didn't have that chance.  That day he was flown to a larger hospital for more specialized care.  His father and grandmother went to be with him, while his mom stayed behind at the other hospital.  She was allowed to see him once briefly before the helicopter took off, but she couldn't hold him.  Rebecca was released from the hospital after a couple of days and was driven home and then on to the hospital where her son was getting stronger and breathing deeper.

I heard each of these steps second-hand.  And from our mother I heard, "Rebecca finally held Hemi today.  She just sobbed and sobbed and she spoke to him for a long time."

And I understood something new (or new-to-me) about salvation.  I don't hold to any theological position about how it works.  I'm a United Methodist, so in general I'm Armenian and not Calvinist - but I don't think these divisions amount to a hill of beans because ultimately the Bible isn't clear and we're not going to know on this side of heaven.

But I realized something about God's understanding of our salvation in this encounter between a new mother and her newborn son.  There was nothing about the fact that she hadn't held him in her arms that made Hemi any less real, less alive, less loved, or less hers - but in that moment that she held her son in her arms all of those emotions and feelings came together for Rebecca.

And I wonder if these distinctions of "we choose God" verses "God chooses us" are distractions more than distinctions.  Because other things get in the way.  God wants us.  God chooses all of us.  We want God.  It's exceedingly rare to find someone who would outright reject of despise God if there was certain proof of God's existence.  We would like to choose God.  But other things get in the way.  Life, man's religions and the faith we put in them, sin, the devil, and our selfish pride just to name a few.

Rebecca desperately wanted to hold Hemi.  Hemi certainly wanted to be held by his mother.  But things got in the way for some time, didn't they.

And on Skype mom continued, "and don't you know, that Hemi waited all of that time to open his eyes.  When I held him and when Mike held him he kept his little eyes closed, but as soon as Rebecca held him, he opened his eyes."

And it's in this image of a loving creator finally holding us, that in that moment we may gain the courage and strength to open our eyes and see the one who has loved us since before we were born.