Salvation and Sacrifice

Last night Fran and Rhiannon and I enjoyed the hospitality of three house church communities gathered for an intra-church conference this weekend in Lithia Springs. After a potluck dinner one of the church groups performed skits based on the wisdom of the letter to the Colossians. Much wonderful singing and heartfelt prayer and praise rounded out what was a delightful evening.

As an active practicing Catholic, my spiritual life is oriented toward monasticism and sacramentalism rather than evangelicalism, so it’s always an interesting experience when I participate in a non-liturgical style of worship, last night being no exception. Catholics don’t do a lot of personal testimony and sharing (that’s an understatement), so I find that evangelical worship can be quite intimate and revealing, even to a one-time guest like I was last night. At one point, one person shared an insight he had received about salvation. And in doing so, I received an unexpected insight of my own, into some significant theological differences that separate Catholics and Protestants.