Tuesday 6 October 2009

Again we look at the notion of saying "no" to God's "yes" - Willimon.

...Barth warns us not to build fences around God's grace by making God's grace into a general principle whereby either salvation or damnation is inevitable for everyone no matter what. Christian salvation is not an idea but an agent. Some form of universalism is always possible for those who are convinced of the persistence and are hopeful for the ultimate triumph of God's grace. Yet there is also an inevitable tension in the possibility of an incontrovertible rejection of grace by a sinful human being. Sin in this context is any human opposition to the prior divine disposition to be God pro nobis. Sin is an name for the various human forms of "no" in the face of God's "yes." If there is some sort of universal restoration and salvation, Barth said "it can only be a matter of the unexpected work of grace" working upon a disobedient and death-deserving humanity.

Isn't that "fence building" one of the ways we so often work. Rather than letting this grace of God be just what it is, we fence it in...we all do...in our own ways and in many different times and situations. I really enjoy the idea of Christian salvation being an "agent." It is working. It is moving. It is working the crowd even as we sit back and do nothing. I also like the way Willimon ties the God "pro nobis" (for us) back into this conversation. We may want to limit when God is for us or even to whom God will be available...but...God is still "pro nobis" without limit. How do we deal with such a God? How do we deal with such a gift? Well, that's us. We are free to deal with God as we want. Then again, God continues to be "for us" in and through all things. It is as though God expects that we will be so touched by this endless love...there will come a time when even our hard hearts are turned in a new way. So we sing or say in the Eucharistic liturgy "come, Lord Jesus" and "come, Holy Spirit."

Connection: It is always good to catch ourselves in the fence-building mode of life. It can be surprising to see it coming and even frightening to see it. And yet, it is good for us to be given the gift to see those times. It is then that we are reminded of the God who is beyond our control and yet is eternally for us.

Continue to be for us, O God. There are so many ways we try to bring the world under our rule. And yet, we rule nothing at all - no matter how much we try. Grant us your Peace. Amen.