Touchpoints on Salvation

Touchpoints on Salvation

Touchpoint: John the Baptizer. Watercolor image of John the Baptist preaching to a crowd

Let’s Get Tattoos!

“At baptism it is not about our declaration of acceptance of God, it’s about our full acknowledgment of God’s reception of us! This mystery invites us into God’s heart. This mystery is the heartbeat in all people, whether aware of it or not. Though we may sin, doubt, judge, curse, deny, betray, we cannot remove the tattoo placed on our hearts as a reminder that we belong.”
Touchpoint: Matthew 25; Image: painting of sheep and goats by Lydia Irving

Damn Serious

“It causes me to ask myself, have I not evolved from euphoria and intellectual devotion? Have I become spiritually self-indulgent and neglected those God shows preference for in suffering? I can tell you that as a preacher, my words have not neglected them. My actions are what I would prefer to think about.”
Touchpoint: Sing a New Song; image of bird chirping at sunset

A New Song

“It appears to me that Jesus is constantly trying to save people from themselves… from our egos searching for identity and value in the wrong places. Doesn’t it seem like that to you? These guys come to him and say, “What is your opinion on Caesar’s empire built on unfair taxes?” Jesus says in effect, ‘Here’s what I think of your unfair tax. You rob people of their assets for a coin that is worth much less.'”
Save Me from Myself Touchpoint, painting by David Muirhead of woman looking at herself in the mirror

Saved from Myself

“I don’t know about you, but I find these words incredibly freeing. Finally, here is some brutal honesty that speaks not to my superficial hopes and dreams, my Facebook and Instagram pages, but to the profound depths of my pain and sadness about myself.”
"I Am here for you." Touchpoint. tiny man looking up into the vast universe

Luther and Copernicus

“[My boys] would cry out, “You can’t do that! You’re not the boss of me!” And I would be more amused than angry, because well… they were living in a space I created for them. They were eating food I provided for them. They were enjoying the world I created for them, as well as the fact that I had literally created them. Which sounds a lot like all the things God has done for us.”
New Year's Resolutions Touchpoint

New Year’s Resolutions

“I went online to look at the steps to salvation, or how to be born again. And I must say, I didn’t hear many first words that had God saying to me, “You are my beloved child, with whom I am well pleased.” I read a lot about me being a sinner. That seemed to be the starting point for everything. My sinfulness. I read a lot about the ‘sinner’s prayer,’ but I couldn’t find the ‘beloved child of God’ prayer.”
Christian freedom doesn't serve us Touchpoint

Freedom From, Freedom For

“Christian freedom doesn’t serve us; we serve Christian freedom. And it is a freedom that frees us from trying to save ourselves, and moves us into a freedom for others.”
Proclaim Repentance Touchpoint

Forgiveness Leads to Repentance

“But here’s the thing. We don’t need to run and hide like Adam and Eve. We don’t need to live in fear and dread. We know what kind of God we have. We know whether God, at God’s core, is forgiving or vengeful.”
A Distinction without a Difference Touchpoint

No Distinction

“This is what seems to most irritate the other disciples about what Peter did. It wasn’t that he didn’t invite those others to join them and become a part of them. They and we would have been good with that.”
Show me your scars Touchpoint

Wounded Touch

“You see, the problem may not be that people don’t want to belong to the church. The problem may just be that the church doesn’t want to belong to the Christ. Perhaps we’ve been so busy worshipping Jesus we’ve forgotten to follow him.”
God's Unstoppable Grace Touchpoint

Unstoppable

“That is what this week is about. That is what the passion, crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus is about. God will simply not stop being a loving, gracious and forgiving God. And not in some theoretical, metaphysical, mystical way. God will simply not stop being a loving, gracious and forgiving God here on earth – to us and with us.”