GRACE

“I’m not a Bible literalist; I am a Christian.” It’s an avowal only to suggest Christians’ views span a wide scope, literal to an open-mind reading. Either way, hopefully, we all are respectful, grace-filled Christians, and in my case, one who’s in continual search of truth. My maxim: “When you think you have found the only truth, keep searching.” (An axiom as well to be practiced with print and TV news. As I suggested to a friend, just keep flipping those news channels.) That’s not to be cynical but to be open to other possibilities, such as Bible scholar Marcus Borg’s “Reading The Bible Again for the First Time” has availed.

A year ago while attending a Methodist Men’s spiritual retreat, at break, I had an opportunity to speak with our spiritual leader, F. Belton Joyner. Joyner, noted for his humor, is a respected religious author and a teacher of courses on Methodist history and Wesleyan theology at Duke University. I had heard Joyner, also knowledgeable in the Islam faith, speak immediate post-911. The title alone of one of his Sunday school lesson books may provoke ire in some minds: “Being Methodist in the Bible Belt” A Theological Survival Guide For Youth, Parents, And Other Confused Methodist. Sample: “One danger that gets loose in a Bible Belt culture is a narrow definition of what experiences with God look like. Even John Wesley did not insist that everyone have the same experience.” Joyner refers to Social Principals, a part of The Methodist Book of Discipline: “For John Wesley the big issues to be addressed were slavery, the poor, liquor traffic, prison reform, war, politics, and education. Methodist have continued to think it is important to apply the freeing news of the gospel to bringing all humankind to freedom. (How we do this is often a matter of debate and even controversy. Hillary Rodham Clinton, George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, and John Edwards are all United Methodist, but they do not agree on the best approach to helping humankind.)” Is that scary enough?

As we stood there at break, I mentioned some of the incongruent scriptures and asked Joyner if he had read certain book titles of open-mind theology, such as that of Marcus Borg. Yes. In jest I said, “Are you ready to change your theology/doctrine?” No! And he mentioned something about grace, and my friend Richard standing with us said something about grace. I responded, “I’m in plenty need of that!” Now to the point: GRACE.

“What’s so Amazing About Grace?” The author Phillip Yancey brings a whole new understanding about the significance and consequence of grace in all people’s lives. Yancey grew up a racist in Atlanta, where the south practiced a perfectly legal form of apartheid, prior to and the years of Lester Mattox’s governorship. Since, Yancey has grown in a faith extolling the powerful virtues of grace in an ungraced world --- were too often grace is shamefully deficient in the Christian church. The book is filled with real-life stories of what grace have wrought in the lives of givers and receivers, referencing well-known writers, people and organizations you’ll easily recognize. The book was first published 10-years ago, and it’s clear that some fears expressed have come to pass since: While Yancey values the moral conscientiousness of all religious people in state matters, he is a state/church separatist who warned against the coziness of “religion and state,” stating that it’s the church that suffers in the cozy relationship. (Martin Luther King Jr.: “The church is not the master or servant of the state. It must be the guide and critic of the state, and never its tool.”)

The book reinforced my beliefs about grace, even though I don’t often use the word; I believe it’s often what I feel and have an inner desire to dispense. John Wesley said prevenient grace is God given to all human beings, and it’s how we are able to come to saving faith in Jesus Christ. So everyone begins with some grace, including secularist.

In tie with my previous Critical Actions’ “Palestine” by Jimmy Carter, I comment on a passage of the book: Carter (being recognized as one of the most religious U. S. President we’ve ever had) refused to admit a mistaken support (whether right or wrong) of the repressive Shah in exchange for Iran’s offer to release Iranian hostages unharmed. (See today’s Looking Iran right in the eye: “As the situation in Iraq continues to deteriorate there's considerable talk about how, when or if the United States should "engage" with Iran. Whether it is this administration or its successor, at some point we will do so.”) We’ll never know what a good measure of grace may have fashioned if Carter had acted on the promise. Carter said, “No apologies. Our National Honor is at stake.” I do know that the U. S. is not always right on foreign policy, probably far from, which raises the question: Is America a nation of too much hubris?

Oswald Chambers on the works of grace through prayer: “It is not so true that "prayer changes things" as that prayer changes me and I change things. God has so constituted things that prayer on the basis of Redemption alters the way in which a man looks at things. Prayer is not a question of altering things externally, but of working wonders in a man's disposition.”

The book is so well written, easy to read; I was attached to it until end. I think it’s a book for anyone who ever claimed the title of Christian, or otherwise. It’s much more than coverable here, including a chapter on the loopholes of grace. Grace may not be the answer to all problems, but it must to be the Christian’s defining response. Yancey quotes Dorothy Day as saying, “I really only love God as much as I love the person I love the least.” Leave aside all the doctrine and liturgy of the church; Grace defines Christianity to barebones: Grace, the love of God, but first the love of fellowman, and Jesus’ new commandment, love one another as I have loved you= Salvation by the grace of God.

(Interestingly a quick electronic Bible search, of various translations, of the word “grace” only appears in two books of the gospels: Luke 1 to 2 times; John 2 to 3 times in most translations; in the New Living Translation in John the words unfailing love, faithfulness and gracious blessing are substituted. “Grace” appears in Acts 7 and more times and in Paul’s Epistles 80 and more.)