Super Christians

First, go read this blog entry from a UMC blogger: "Make No Wave United Methodist Church"

Now, there is a lot here in this tale of a pastor who dared to ask questions like "What is the church?" and "What is the church for?" but the part of the dialog that resulted between pastor and people representatives that jumped out at me was this:

Look, you’re young and we want to support you, but you need to be reasonable. People are busy — we have full lives. We don’t have time to be saints. We need you to do your job — lead worship, visit church members, teach confirmation, pray for us, and try to grow the church. We just don’t need you making things harder than they ought to be.

Since when did "being saints" need its own time allotment? When I wake up I'm a saint. When I go to bed I am a saint. When I drive my car I am a saint. When I go to work I am a saint. I'm a saint on Tuesday. I'm a saint on Friday. I'm a saint on Sunday. I don't have to do extra to want to become a better Christian. Yes, the Lord might ask me to sacrifice some time, or money, but I just have to trust Him to provide. There is no time that I am not seeking to be obedient and walk closer to my God.
Here's the other part of this dialog that got me, that broke my heart a little.

This kick you’re on to push; to make us feel bad about not doing enough?

I’m not trying to make anyone feel bad. I’m just trying to offer people something better. I want to help people grow in their faith.

Well, that’s fine, but a lot of people are perfectly happy where they are.

Does the call to be more like Jesus, to live a holy life, to seek more of his Spirit, "make us feel bad"? It shouldn't. A pastor does tread a fine line, but the inflowing of the Holy Spirit causes a sensitivity to God's call to excellence. A pastor encourages the people to seek more and more of the holiness of God, as an outgrowth of the grace that they received at the time of their salvation. Lest I fall into the trap of making this all inside work, the holiness manifests itself in works of mercy and justice. These just comes naturally from the life of vibrant Christians who are saved by grace but are not satisfied themselves in just receiving, but want to give and lead others to the grace of God.If you can do nothing after salvation, you are still saved. Your salvation has no dependence on doing a "work" of any kind. The parable in Matthew 20 and the repentant thief demonstrate this.

God loved us so much He sent His Son to die for us. That's love. That is love that is not just designed to make us feel "fulfilled" (although it does); it's love designed to be spread around, both among fellow Christians and those outside the Church, looking for an answer to the deeper questions and needs of life.