Day Thirteen : 12th December

Matthew 11: 16-19

'We played the flute for you, and you did not dance,
We wailed and you did not mourn'
18 For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say "He has a demon";
19 the Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, "Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!" Yet wisdom is vindicated by her deeds."

from last Sunday's sermon from Chris:

"…But fortunately, at the other end of the spectrum is a much more interesting, radical and exciting model of Christian salvation — which happily also happens to have better pedigree. This sees salvation as being about transformation and growing towards union with God. In this transformational view, we are not so much being saved FROM something (ie. damnation), as being saved FOR something (transformation in the Spirit).

St Paul is right into this stuff. A good example of this comes from his second letter to the Corinthians:

"And all of us, with unveiled faces, seeing the glory of the Lord as though reflected in a mirror, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord, the Spirit." (3:18)

Now that really is an interesting idea that might just get the interest of our friend. That we are spiritual beings whose true potential is way beyond anything we can currently comprehend, and that we are on a transformational path, through various states of glory, into becoming the same image as our creator.

The Orthodox church uses the Greek word theosis for this. Theosis is word that means our essential being is permeated with God. Striving for theosis was what the early churches thought our earthly lives were supposed to be about.

In this view, we keep on repenting because our sins that are the things that are blocking our progress into transformation."

the rest of this can be read here