When I hear the words from today's Gospel the voices in my head are the actors playing disciples joyfully singing "The Light of the World" from Godspell. That musical and Jesus Christ Superstar certainly helped me glimpse ways of being Christian that engaged me in new ways.
There was something about Cristian community I had never encountered or considered before in my church experience. After the musical opens with a musical prologue, John the Baptist responds by blowing a shofar to call the community to order. He then beckons them to "Prepare Ye, the Way of the Lord" announcing an invitation to everyone who can hear and the community hears the call and congregates.
Pastor Steve preached about something he read this week "If God is absent from the world it is because you are." This echoed and resonated with an understanding that always fills me when I ponder art pieces that point to some important truth, Today it was Bernini's statue "The Ecstasy of St Teresa". Remembering Christ has no body but yours in this world is powerful and provides a valuable and rare perspective.
This is what being a member of Creator has taught me over the years. Moving beyond seeing salvation in personal terms. That view can easily distort our vision, Salvation is about everyone. God saves the world through community.
Pastor Steve also stressed that today when he talked about the you in "You are the salt of the earth" and "You are the light of the world". He pointed out the pronoun being used was a plural you, not addressed to us as individuals. We can only hear the pronoun used like this in English when, as they say in phrase the south, you say, "Y'all are the salt of the earth. Y'all are light of the world.".
God saves the people.
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