An everyday story of Divine folk

Hello children, are you sitting comfortably?

Got a cup of something hot and some dippy biscuits?

Good, then we'll begin:

Having got out of bed in a good mood one morning and having had a good breakfast (always sets you up, doesn't it?) God decided to act and restore the relationship between him and those he had created (for he is the Father of all). "Time for a bit of salvation," he thought and so Jesus came to earth as one of them (human that is, but still God - confusing or what? But God understood and that's all that matters - isn't it children?).

A simple plan, Jesus would tell them all about how God wanted them to live and then he'd play the master card by destroying the thing that both caused the separation and maintained it. Yep, sin was about to be destroyed. Death, it's penalty was going to be broken and by doing so the people would be free. And so Jesus did exactly that, he died for everyone and when he got home the father threw him a big party with a 'Welcome home Saviour of the world' banner, balloons and Turkish delight (must surely be God's favouritest food)!

Then it struck some of the people that although Jesus was the 'Saviour of the World', not everyone wanted to live the way jesus had taught and before long there were two groups, those who took the bit of paper that told them they were justified (which means in simple language that sin no longer has a hold on us) and those who didn't want to take the paper and live it their way! "We know," they said revelling in their own intelligence, Let's abandon the ticket thing and just tell everyone that they are in regardless of what they believe. That way Jesus will really be the 'Saviour of the world' because everyone will be saved, not just those who take the ticket."

How pleased they were because now everyone was 'in' this meant that everyone was saved and they'd made jesus the 'Saviour of the World' for real. But of course, this meant that they had to removed the 'whosoever believes in Him' bit from the Bible and whilst now there was no hint of being a co-redeemer with jesus, because some said that unless the person said 'yes' salvation ceased to exist then they had a part in the salvific act, there was also no coherent faith life either.

God laughed at that because the people weren't partners in the salvation but were recipients (how they made him laugh at times and cry even more he thought).

Reaching for the kettle he thought to himself, "Oh my, can it get any worse?"

And you know what? It quite probably could.