REsources for Living
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Are you saved? It’s a question most of us have heard, whether the person asking has appeared at our door carrying pamphlets or is a friend who wants to talk about religion on the playground.
Are you saved? I confess, for me the question conjures up the picture of tucking leftovers into the refrigerator for tomorrow’s lunch, or clipping a coupon that might come in handy later. But there are a lot of ways to imagine being “saved.”
The traditional Christian version, the one people are usually checking on when they ask if you are saved, says that people are saved by God’s giving his son Jesus to die on the cross as payment for our sins. If you accept this truth in your heart, then you’re saved and get to go to heaven.
Not surprisingly, most Unitarian Universalists want nothing to do with this idea of salvation. How, we wonder, does someone else’s death have anything to do with what we have done wrong? And what kind of a father would agree to forgive people’s sins by having his son suffer and die? And who wants to go to heaven if it’s just an exclusive club for people who all believe the same thing?
By contrast, Unitarian minister James Freeman Clarke suggested in 1886 that Unitarians believe in “salvation by character.” That is, we don’t believe that faith in Jesus dying for our sins will save us. Instead, we believe that salvation comes from the inside. As we practice what William Ellery Channing called “Self-Culture,” we save ourselves by learning to be more kind, more compassionate, more honest, more courageous, etc. Rather than calling upon God to save us, we spend our lives trying to make ourselves more like God.
It’s a nice idea, salvation by character. It assumes that everybody starts out basically fine, with “inherent worth and dignity,” and that we spend our lives getting better and better, so that, as a group, we can embody what Clarke called “the progress of [hu]mankind, onward and upward forever.”
You may have noticed a problem with this lovely idea, though. Yes, humankind seems to be making some progress on certain fronts, but it would be hard to point to a whole lot of evidence that we are heading onward and upward forever. Sometimes people do incredibly noble and selfless things and other times people act like just the most amazing set of jerks and imbeciles you can imagine. Just looking at the comments section of any internet news site is enough to convince you that “the progress of [hu]mankind” has definitely stalled out somewhere along the onwards and upwards.
I’m afraid most of us are not so different on an individual basis, either. Some moments we’re generous and kind, or passionate advocates for justice, or incredibly patient in the face of hardship. But then, in other moments we really can’t bring ourselves to care about anything more than the mint chocolate chip ice cream in the freezer, and woe betide anyone who stands in our way. Sometimes we manage a pretty good likeness to God, and sometimes it’s a little bit closer to Godzilla.
So, am I saved? I am not counting on Jesus to save me, and saving myself seems like a pretty hit or miss proposition. But here’s the thing. I don’t think that being “saved” is an either/or—you are or you aren’t—kind of thing. I believe that rather than asking, “Are you saved?” it would make more sense to ask, “Are you engaged in salvation?” The root meaning of salvation is healing. And we, all of us, are never fully well and never fully sick. Salvation is a journey, not a destination.
We’re in the process of salvation whenever we take a deep breath and manage not to lose our temper—and then take the time to figure out the real reason we were about to go over the edge. We’re working on salvation every time we reach out to a stranger, trusting that there is some human connection that holds us together. We practice salvation when we pause to admire the pattern of light and shadow in the leafy canopy of a tree, and when we plant a tree for future generations to enjoy. We are engaged in salvation when we help to cook a meal for the homeless, or when we choose to eat in ways that are sustainable for the planet, or when we stop and give thanks for the food that sustains us. We are saved, step by step, as we make choices that allow us to grow, to care, to connect, to build. Salvation is the entirety of that journey.
And it’s a journey that we don’t have to take alone. Sure, no one else can save you, and you can’t really save anyone else (as many of us have found out through painful experience in dysfunctional relationships). But we can offer one another support as we walk together. We can remind each other of our strengths and we can offer perspective on what healing looks like. We can hold one another accountable for our actions and choices and we can encourage one another to take the next step toward whatever “likeness to God” might look like.
Am I saved? No, not really. But I’m glad to be on that journey toward salvation with you.
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