03-19-26

ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS
March 19, 2026
Yesterday at the Men’s Prayer Gathering, we watched a sermon by Dr. Fred Craddock, considered one of the greatest preachers of the last century. He died eleven years ago, but along with his brilliant rhetorical approach to preaching, Craddock had a great sense of humor. In the sermon we watched, he had a marvelous play on language, specifically talking about a deficit of words we are facing. As his sermon progressed, he focused on the word saved. I really resonated with his message as he suggested we have let certain words, including saved, slip from our vocabulary. In churches like Cypress Creek, there is this tendency to distance ourselves from certain ways a word has been defined. And yes, the word saved has seen some pretty horrible uses, at least in my opinion. Some religious settings have so narrowly defined saved that you have to be a member of their church, baptized exactly the way they say one must be baptized, and believe the church’s very specific take on God if you desire to be saved. No exceptions! But as I have said numerous times before, religion, and specifically Christianity, has a bad habit of throwing out the proverbial baby with the bathwater. We want to distance ourselves from the troubling use of a word, so we jettison that word because we don’t want to be guilty of association. Instead, we need to be bold in our communication. It’s not about saying that someone else is wrong. Instead, it is about presenting a vision that is so full of life and joy that others will find it compelling, not damning or fearful or controlling. 

You meet us wherever we are, Great and Merciful God. Thank you for your saving and healing gift brought to us in the life and witness of Jesus Christ. He truly saves us in every way we as humans need saving. Amen.