Saved?

Yesterday, I had the privilege to meet with a group of Christians here in Nashville called the Nashville Cohort. It was a group of eight white guys sitting on couches in a restaurant talking theology. Now, while I look very much forward to a time when the group would include women and members of other ethnicities, it was a great time for me to get together with people outside of my denominational scope (although there was another Church of Christer there, or as we like to call ourselves "True Christians").

It's very much based in Emergent theology, which isn't bad in and of itself or good in and of itself. I sometimes grow a little weary of the hipper-than-thou attitude I perceive, although I feely admit that that might be my perceptions, which is also not a reflection on anyone I met yesterday. Well, besides the Tony Hawk-lovin' Dixon. Anyway, we discussed issues of salvation and that's something that I've been pondering recently, especially terminology.

The term Saved itself has certain implications. There is a "to/from" inherent in it. I think of it in terms of being in the ocean (since I watched the Bourne Identity the other night). If I say that I was saved from the ocean, then there's the implication that I'm saved to something, generally a boat or land or something.

As a Christian, I think I taked the word "Saved" for granted and to use that terminology makes assumptions all over the place. However, I'm trying to change. I'm trying to see that salvation is NOT solely about punching my ticket to the afterlife. It's not about making sure that I'm in and everyone with whom I disagree is out.

When Jesus selected his 72 disciples in Luke, he didn't do that to make sure those got into Heaven. He selected them to go out and do HIS work. He empowered them to go to places that he wouldn't be able to go. When we become Jesus' disciples (a better term than "Saved," in my opinion), we gain a huge responsibility. We become partners with Christ in bringing about the Kingdom of God. To claim to be saved without embracing that responsibility, without spreading the good news that Jesus talks about in Luke 4, then what's the point? What's the point of claiming to be a follower?