Keeping the End in View
Imagine Charles Wesley attending a Christmas morning service today and hearing that his great hymn, "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing," would be sung. As the congregation started singing, he would be momentarily confused, because his original began, "Hark how all the welkin rings / Glory to the King of kings," and was not sung to the Felix Mendelssohn tune we use today.
By verse three, Wesley might get his bearings. But when "Born to raise the sons of earth / Born to give them second birth" proved to be the last verse, he would be confused again.
He'd likely exclaim, "But that's not the end. I went on to write this:
Adam's likeness, Lord, efface,
Stamp thy image in its place;
Second Adam from above,
Reinstate us in thy love.
Let us thee, though lost, regain,
Thee, the life, the inner man;
O, to all thyself impart,
Formed in each believing heart."
Then he might ask, "Why don't you sing that verse?"
A Good start
As evangelicals, we know how to answer the question, "Are you saved?": If we have believed in Jesus Christ, we are saved—right there, right then.
Sometimes, though, the way we talk about salvation makes it sound like little more than a get-out-of-hell-free card. With our emphasis on what sinners like ourselves are saved from, do we know what we are saved for? Is salvation solely about us and our need to be forgiven and born again, or is there a deeper, God-ward purpose?
The leaders of the ancient church thought so, speaking regularly of salvation in a way that may sound strange to many evangelicals, but which Wesley alluded to in some of his hymns. In particular, they envisioned salvation as theosis, an ongoing ...
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nicholas
Louise Wilde, Look up Orthodox Churches in your are in phone book or on Google Local. There you will find the church you are looking for. Be warned, Orthodox parishes in this country sometimes struggle with being ethno-centric. If you don't have a great experience at one parish, try another. I would also suggest the books The Orthodox Church by Timothy Ware, and The Orthodox Way by Kallistos Ware (same guy, took the name Kallistos when he became a bishop) I will pray for you, that you find your way home.
Louise Wilde
This theology, that by the power of God we are "transformed into His likeness with ever increasing glory," is present every where in Scripture. The Scripture "Work out your salvation with fear and trembling" says salvation is "God working in you to will and to act according to His good purpose." Zechariah's prophecy says that the "horn of salvation" "enables us to serve Him without fear in holiness and righteousness before Him all our days," Luke 1:75. It is everywhere in Scripture, but churches here teach sanctification as if it ends with the Holy Spirit bringing us to believe that Jesus is our Savior and, out of love for Him, obey the Commandments (which is all human effort according to the Apostle Paul)!!! The truth is that "We are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works," Eph. 2:10. Where can I find a church with this understanding of salvation?
Paul
Verses to consider: Philippians 1:21 For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. Galatians 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me. 1 John 3:2 Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is. 2 Corinthians 3:18 But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.