I don't know about you, but when I hear the word grace, the first thing which comes to mind is the short prayer my brother and I are asked to say prior to every meal when we eat as a family at home. My brother and I to this day still say the same grace we were taught as children, although my favourite one comes from the one time my grandfather was asked to say grace. If I remember correctly, it was "Through the lips, past the gums, watch out stomach, here it comes, yay God!" I later learned from him that it was the "yay God" part which made it an official prayer.
Other than meal times, the word grace isn't used all that often in our every day lives. Sometimes we use the words gracious, which can mean pleasantly kind, benevolent, and courteous, merciful or compassionate[1] and we usually reserve this word for someone who does something nice for us which we didn't expect. To be gracious, or to extend grace, really means to do something which the unexpecting person does not anticipate.
The only other time I can really remember hearing the word grace on a regular basis is in our communion liturgies where we hear the words "Grace, Mercy, and Peace, from God our Father and from our Lord Jesus Christ..." If you're anything like me, perhaps you have not really given much thought to the word grace and what it means to us as everyday followers of Jesus.
Of course, then again there's Amazing Grace, which is the theme for today and is the focal point of the message to be shared by the middle school students here in a bit. We're going to learn about John Newton, the author of the song we all know and love. Grace was something very real to him in a way which we may or may not understand. Not all of us have the same life and death situations in which grace is bestowed upon us in such a magnificent way. Not all of us go around the world as a part of our job stealing other human beings from their towns, live on a boat for long periods of time, subject to the waves of the sea. Not all of us make decisions which directly effect whether another human being will live or die. John Newton made such decisions on a regular basis as a young man and was amazed that God would extend grace to a person like himself. The grace which God extends isn't amazing in and of itself, the amazing part is that we figure it out that it has been ours the whole time.
There's one more way which the church uses the word grace, and its normally used by those of us who consider ourselves well versed in theology. It comes from one of the great theologians of our time, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who in his book, The Cost of Discipleship, makes a distinction between cheap grace and costly grace.
"Cheap grace means the justification of sin without the justification of the sinner. Grace alone does everything, they say, and so everything can remain as it was before."[2]
In a nutshell, it means that means when we ask for God's forgiveness and do not believe we need to repent from what we are doing, then we live our lives expecting God's grace to be cheap.
"Costly grace on the other hand is costly because it calls us to follow, and it is grace because it calls us to follow Jesus Christ. It is costly because it costs a person their life, and it is grace because it gives a person the only true life. It is costly because it condemns sin and grace because it justifies the sinner."[3]
That last quote about costly grace isn't exactly an easy one to understand, and if you did understand after hearing it only once, I must say I'm impressed. I wrote that sentence as I was working an overnight at St. Luke’s hospital and after I wrote it, I stood up to take a break as to how I could explain such a complex concept in more understandable terms. As I was walking around the pastoral care office, looking at people's pictures on their desks, I came across a pin in the shape of a ribbon which said: "It's the way you live!"
I want you to repeat that after me "It's the way you live!" Real grace transforms the way we live our lives. Cheap grace merely pays lip service to change. This costly grace is the first step in what I like to call the grace chain. You see, I believe, and I hope that you do too, that bestowing grace is just a part of God’s nature. When we accept that grace, we chose not only to accept it, but to live in a state of grace, which means that we are transformed from the way we used to live and show the rest of the world that we no longer live the way we used to. Hopefully the grace chain does not only end there, but that as we live transformed lives, others take notice and become curious as to why we live and act the way we do. Then we get to share the story of the grace we accepted from Jesus Christ.
Now, I realize that we are all in different stages of our walk with Christ. But I thought it would be a wonderful opportunity in worship this morning for us each to have the chance to lay something on the communion table later on during the time to pray. While the offering is collected, I’d like you to think of something you’d like to accept God’s grace on… something that you’d like to offer…something that you’d no longer like to live with. If there’s something in your life that you have already offered to God, and you’d like to write it down as a reminder that you’ve already given it over to God, feel free to do that too. There is a blank index card in each of your bulletins. If you so desire, I'd like you to write that thing on your card which you desire to place on the alter. You will be invited to come forward during our time of prayer.
Let us now not only offer our financial offering, but let us also contemplate that in our lives which we would like to give over to God as we seek to accept God’s grace.
Let us pray… God of grace, so often we forget how amazing you are and so often we are afraid of what our lives will be like in the freedom which can only be found in you. Thank you for all you have given us and thank you for everything you will continue to give. Give us strength to continue to show that same grace to our neighbors and to our enemies. It is that grace which will change the world from one of hate into one of love. From despair to one of reconciliation. From a world of laws to a world of peace and justice. Now let us spend time in silence, and for those of us who desire, let us come and bring up our cards with that which we desire to place in your hands, giving it up for you to bear for us.
