Notes from the Wayside: Perspective: Well, Which Is It?

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Well, Which Is It?

But you, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious,

slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.

Psalm 86:15 (NRSV)

All I have needed Thy hand hath provided

Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me

From "Great Is Thy Faithfulness" by Thomas O. Chisholm

When I stopped attending my home church nearly two years ago, I figured my preaching "career" was pretty much over. In a strange twist of fate, over the last twelve months, I have had more opportunities to preach than ever before. Between my sermon preparation and my regular job, I've been rather busy lately - perhaps a little too busy. I'm starting to wonder if, in my rush to write my sermons, I've adequately thought through what I've written. For example, I'm a little concerned that I've been giving some conflicting messages about God's grace.

Late last year, I delivered a sermon on a story from the Gospel of Luke about a vertically-challenged tax collector named Zacchaeus who was despised by his community but experienced unconditional love and acceptance when he met Jesus.¹ Echoing what theologian Paul Tillich wrote about grace,² I said, "To receive God's grace is to accept that we are accepted by God, and to extend that grace to other people is to accept them just as they are."

Last week, I delivered a sermon on a section from the Letter to the Romans in which St. Paul addresses the question of whether or not we can do whatever we want since God forgives us for our sins.³ Reflecting on what theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote about grace,⁴ I said, "Grace is free, but it is not cheap. To receive what Christ freely offers us, we must receive it with both hands, meaning that we will have to let go of some things."

How can I make both of these claims? Can they be reconciled? If grace is being accepted just as we are, then how can grace require us to change? Am I talking out both sides of my mouth, or do I need to be a little more selective regarding the theologians and other thinkers I reference?

Sometimes retailers advertise unavailable products at a low price in order to get customers into stores to sell them more expensive goods.⁵ Is the promise of grace merely the religious equivalent of a bait-and-switch scam? Do churches proclaim to the world, "All are welcome! Come as you are!" just to get people through the doors and then, once they are part of the community, demand that they change?

When I am asked to preach on a particular Sunday, I typically prepare a sermon based on one of the Scripture passages assigned for the week by the Revised Common Lectionary.⁶ It is important to note that the Bible is not univocal: it does not speak in a singular voice. It is a collection of documents written by different authors with different perspectives who were all faithfully testifying to their experiences of God. Even parts of the Bible written by the same author might have differences. Much of the New Testament is made up of letters written to different churches by St. Paul. Naturally, Paul would not write the same letter to each church because different churches had different matters to address.

That said, there are tensions between Bible passages, but I believe that there is truth to be found in the tensions.

Does grace mean being accepted as we are?

Does grace mean being transformed into what we are meant to be?

Maybe grace somehow means both.

Grace is something that is given freely. If something is done to promote an agenda, then it is not an act of grace. At the same time, grace is transformative, for it has the potential to bring out the best in people. Zacchaeus was the most hated man in his town, but, ironically, when Jesus accepted him just as he was, he was changed. He turned away from a life of greed and dishonesty and took on a life of integrity and generosity.

As I noted last week, John Wesley taught that we experience God's grace in three ways. Prevenient grace is the grace by which we are drawn to God; justifying grace is the grace by which we are forgiven and reconciled to God; and sanctifying grace is the grace by which we are transformed into what we were created to be.⁷ A certain progression is implied in this framework: we experience one kind of grace up to a certain point at which we experience a second kind of grace and after which we experience a third kind of grace. I'm not so sure the spiritual life is really that structured.

Sometimes we know that there are things in our lives that need to change, so we seek help from God and take the steps we need to make such changes happen. We make some progress and then fall flat on our faces. We take two steps forward and then fall ten steps backward. We become frustrated and discouraged, and we begin to fear that we might never change. At times like these, we need to remember that God loves us and accepts us just as we are. In the words of Paul Tillich, "[Grace] strikes us when, year after year, the longed-for perfection of life does not appear, when the old compulsions reign within us as they have for decades, when despair destroys all joy and courage."⁸

Maybe grace is not one thing in particular. Maybe grace is God's meeting us where we are with what we need at the moment. Maybe we experience God's grace in different ways at different times in our lives.

When we feel alone in the world, God's grace might come to us as a realization that God loves us more than we can imagine. When we feel guilty or ashamed, God's grace might come to us as a reminder that God forgives us. When we've grown complacent, God's grace might come to us as an invitation to repent and make some changes. When we work to make changes in our lives, God's grace might come to us as the strength we need to do what we need to do. When we feel discouraged, God's grace might come to us as a reminder that God loves us an accepts us just as we are, warts and all.

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