God, rich in mercy,
So loved the world …
He sent his only son …
What does ‘salvation’ really mean?
50 People in a room
express their hope for the Church’s help
to understand what that means for them;
help to know how to respond to that love
to understand more deeply what this means:
Ephesians 2:10 “For we are … created in Christ Jesus
for good works, … , that we should walk in them.”
and this:
John 3:21 “But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.””
Some expressed thanks for what is being done;
others were hopeful for new avenues
to acceptance, welcome, trust and empowerment
to discover what are the works of God that I/we need to do in
our communities
and how to carry them out in God (cf, Eph 2:10)
Still others spoke about the pain they feel
when they encounter hostility, exclusion, rejection or isolation from the very community where they come to experience the richness of God’s mercy and the great love of God that did not withhold his only son from death, that we might live.
And all had ideas to help us together find
If we ask the meaning of the lofty words
in today’s readings —:
Whatever else they mean, they mean that whoever looks for the richness of God’s mercy and fulness of redemption must find it in God’s community, if it’s to be found anywhere.
