of late, i have been allowing the larnell harris song: WERE IT NOT FOR GRACE to minister to me. i have included the song below as well as the lyric. enjoy...




Larnelle Harris - Were it not for grace Lyrics
Album: FIRST LOVE

Time measured out my days
Life carried me along
In my soul I yearned to follow God
But knew Id never be so strong
I looked hard at this world
To learn how heaven could be gained
Just to end where I began
Where human effort is all in vain
Chorus
Were it not for grace
I can tell you where Id be
Wandering down some pointless road to nowhere
With my salvation up to me
I know how that would go
The battles I would face
Forever running but losing this race
Were it not for grace
So here is all my praise
Expressed with all my heart
Offered to the Friend who took my place
And ran a course I could not start
And when He saw in full
Just how much His would cost
He still went the final mile between me and heaven
So I would not be lost
Repeat Chorus
Forever running but losing this race
Were it not for grace

Tags: grace

in general terms the idea of divine grace can mean the entire movement of God toward the world. that is, christian theology says that God has declared himself for the world, for its continuation. God desires the world to flourish. God has good-will toward the world.

but, what does this mean in a world of religious fundamentalists and atom bombs and freeze dried foods and nano technology and islamic terrorists and pedophile priests and on and on?

bonhoeffer says that God has allowed himself to be pushed out of the modern world, but i wonder. actually, it seems that God, or at least the word "God" is the hot topic and the coinage of the realm today. someone has wisely said that, while 20th century violence was secular (nazism, fascism, communism), the 21st century will be the time of religious violence. it would appear to be so.

but, in a way this makes bonhoeffer's statement even more poignant because it’s the old view of God that has been lost, this view of a benevolent God that actually has good-will toward the world. it is this view that has been pushed aside & in its place we have thor, the god of war.

much is lost here, not the least of which is the view of God that offers the good news that God's concern for the world was so great, that he became part of that world in the christ.

those who hold a supreme sovereignist theology would have us believe that God controls the world without the inflection of the human voice. this is nonsense. humans are responsible for this mess we are in not God. humans have given up on humanity, not God. humans have lost trust and hope and a willingness to listen to the point of view of another, not God. humans have given up on the God of good-will, and in his place we rely on politics and money and possessions and elite power. smoke and mirrors.

said another way, we are free to make choices that have good-will toward the world, or we can destroy the whole thing. we are free and we are responsible. this is God's greatest gift of grace to us.

what must be remembered, however, is that, while we are free to make choices, choices that shape the world, God is free as well. God is free to allow himself to be pushed out of the world (and out of our lives) for which he has good-will. we can have it either way.

Tags: grace

ok. so i am one who believes in grace, god's grace, i mean. i believe and teach that god is open to any and all.

i didn't always believe this way. sadly, i once lived the life of a calvinist, but i found i wasn't a very good one.

i could almost get the hang of this election to salvation idea, but i struggled with the election to damnation; i struggled with the smugness i felt in my surety that i was part of the elect; i struggled with my willingness to let entire populations of people be damed; i struggled with the idea that jesus didn't die for everyone; i struggled with the fact that one woman i knew whose entire family was burned in a fire, and who became a raving crack addict because of it, would not be included because her life was hell now, and because she didn't quite measure up to god, and therefore the cross was not for her; i struggled because i felt left out of god's plan -- after all -- he really didn't need me, everything like prayer and proclaiming the good news was already settled; most of all i struggled with the idea that god is the author of everything, every thought, ever event, including monstrous human evil like auschwitz.

[i'm well aware that the calvinist has answers for all of the above, but as i say, i've seen their wares up close, and i'm not buying ]

GIFT
anyway, the upshot of this is that i left the calvinist camp, and decided to quit camping altogether. i decided that i would try to learn how to love others and just leave it at that. i decided that i would try, as best i could, to make sense of the good news, both to myself and others, and let god do the body count.

so, i've been at the jesus-way since 1962, and i must confess that i fail at this task of loving others most of the time; i'm not a very good pastor or christian. i want to be, and i'm diligent at my attempts, but as i say, most of the time it's just a no go.

this probably means that i left calvinism because of anyone i knew, i needed god's grace most of all, but i wasn't sure i was elected!

DEMAND
and yet, in the midst of this idea of the gift of grace for all, there is also the demand of the gospel -- that of following the ways of the christ. and this weighs heavy, and is quite dense.

said another way, with the gift of grace also comes the demand of discipleship. "broad is the way that leads to destruction," saidjesus, "and many are on that road." he also said: "narrow is the way to life, and few there be that find it."

to me this is a mighty & powerful contradiction.

i think this means if you were to have walked up to st. paul and asked (using old time lingo), "paul, are you saved?" paul would have answered, "yes." but if you were to ask that same question to the writer of the hebrews, or st. james' letter, they would say, "i dunno, i'm not there yet."

Tags: grace