How shall we respond when horrors like the shooting at Annunciation School in Minneapolis pierce our hearts and shatter our communities? I believe this is a salvation issue. And I’m not talking about the souls of the precious children who are surely in the arms of God this day, but about our souls.
In the face of such tragedy, we need to recall what salvation truly means. My husband, the Reverend Robert English, posted a meme with a version of this quote from lifelong Anglican John Wesley this week:
“By salvation, I mean, not barely (according to the vulgar notion) deliverance from hell, or going to heaven, but a present deliverance… the renewal of our souls after the image of God in righteousness and true holiness, in justice, mercy, and truth.”
For Wesley, salvation was not simply about escape from hell or entry into heaven. It was about healing here and now—the renewal of life, the reshaping of our hearts and communities in justice, mercy, and truth.
I believe salvation is deliverance from hell—but not only the hell that might come after death. Hell shows up in this life too, whenever violence, despair, and brokenness overwhelm us.
Heaven also shows up in this life, whenever God’s will is done and love and mercy take root. That is why Jesus teaches us to pray: “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”
Yet this vision of salvation requires something of us. Heaven does not come without repentance and renewal. To live into God’s salvation is to change course, to participate with God in making the world new.
Some remain in hell because heaven requires transformation, and transformation is never easy.
This truth compels us in the face of the slaughter of children at Annunciation Catholic School. Outside the church and school are inscribed the words: “The House of God and the Gate of Heaven.” And yet hell erupted at that very gate.
Our salvation is bound together. The hell of children dying in schools is not only their families’ grief—it is our collective wound. It calls us to repentance, to action, to building communities where life is protected and peace possible. Until we get real about gun violence, we remain in a collective hell.
Wesley’s vision tells us that salvation restores us not only to God but to one another. Heaven is glimpsed when we bear one another’s burdens, when we stand against violence, and when we choose mercy over indifference. Collective grief is vital and so is collective action. That requires humility, willingness to listen and be present to one another, and willingness to make difficult changes to the status quo.
So we pray for the children and families of Annunciation—and we pray for ourselves, that we might live into a salvation that is not escape but participation: God’s kingdom breaking into this world, until all are delivered from the hells of violence and fear, and we stand together at the true Gate of Heaven.
How can we participate in the work of salvation this week?
Our soul is at stake.
Faithfully,
The Reverend Allison English, Rector
Calvary Episcopal Church, Cincinnati