September begins with Dietrich Bonhoeffer writing about "costly grace" in "The Cost of the Discipleship.
Such grace is costly beause 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 (his) life, and it is grace because it given a (person) the only true life. It is costly because it condemns sin, and grace because it justifies sthe sinner. Above all, it is costly because it cost God the life of (God's) Son: "ye were bought at a price, " and what has cost God did cannot be cheap for us. Above all, it is grace because God did not reckon (God's) Son too dear a price to pay for our life, but delivered him up for us. Costly grace is the Incarnation of God.
Here's another argument for the importance of the incarnation. Before there is the suffering and the death and the resurrection, God takes a chance on being human...being one of us in the midst of us. What a predicament...and yet it is our predicament through which we must all pass. God so loved the world that God...came into it all. What a story! This was no step down 'in the spirit' so as to float around through life but not really deal with the down and dirty - ordinary and common - the corruption and the death. God so love the world that this love was to be among us in order to see how contrary such love really is...and to show what the power of the world will always do to it. This is costly grace. Step in...enter the game...get dealt the same hand as any other...and do it all with a love that is beyond my comprehension but is now quite human. God for us, Emmanuel, what a radical idea. This is not God trying to make us "do good." This is God being God and showing us the way to be in union with that life that is as real as....you and me.
Connection: Some days it is difficult to see how God is present within the world around us. Sometimes we are looking to far and not looking in the mirror or at those all around us. Take a look around today.
O Lord of Grace, we long to touch your love and yet we so often remove ourselves from others. How can you touch us if we are not willing to be touched and held and encouraged and supported by those around us that come in your name. Remind us of your presence in the very flesh and blood all around us. Amen.
Thursday, August 31, 2006
Wednesday, August 30, 2006
31 August 2006
Today we will begin the transition from talking about cheap grace to costly grace in "The Cost of Discipleship" by Dietrich Bonhoeffer.
... Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.
Costly grace is the treasure hidden in the field; for the sake of it a (person) will gladly go and sell all that (s/he) has. It is the pearl of great price to buy which the merchant will sell all his goods. It is the kingly rule of Christ for whose sake a (person) will pluck out the eye which causes him to stumble; it is the call of Jesus Christ at which the disciple leaves his nets and follows Jesus.
This is costly grace because it is quite then end of our control of the story.We go on being the gifted and beautiful person whom God created but we now turn to walk along a pathway that brings our personhood into the bountiful expanse of what life can be as it is embraced by God's love. To take that step...to take that leap - from our way to the way of the Christ - is so contrary to who we say we are and who we may want to be that the turn will cost us our life. What is so difficult to imagine is that the gift is so great that the risk that may cause us to turn around and live our own lives ust be taken as part being in touch with the gift. Today I was telling some colleagues that some of Bonhoeffer's images and writing about this grace is too much for me. It is as though I see myself as some of those followers of Jesus who...decided to stay behind and walk their own way. You know, good message...but...maybe not a life for me. Unfortunately, the walk in the way of Jesus is already a part of the gift that enables us to walk more...and to wander into the presence of others who are also stepping off to begin a daily walk with this Lord who claims us and gives us way to move through this day. Whew!!
Connection: Some days it is good to simply shake our heads and praise our God for being so graceful and loving that we can let go of all the many ways we attempt to control our universe...which is really not our universe at all!
Lord God, enable us to enter this day by singing "O Day Full of Grace" so that we will remember whose hands hold all things and whose love sustains all things. In the singing of those words, let us be supported by its truthfulness and thus be fed the bread of life that brings your love into this day. Amen.
... Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.
Costly grace is the treasure hidden in the field; for the sake of it a (person) will gladly go and sell all that (s/he) has. It is the pearl of great price to buy which the merchant will sell all his goods. It is the kingly rule of Christ for whose sake a (person) will pluck out the eye which causes him to stumble; it is the call of Jesus Christ at which the disciple leaves his nets and follows Jesus.
This is costly grace because it is quite then end of our control of the story.We go on being the gifted and beautiful person whom God created but we now turn to walk along a pathway that brings our personhood into the bountiful expanse of what life can be as it is embraced by God's love. To take that step...to take that leap - from our way to the way of the Christ - is so contrary to who we say we are and who we may want to be that the turn will cost us our life. What is so difficult to imagine is that the gift is so great that the risk that may cause us to turn around and live our own lives ust be taken as part being in touch with the gift. Today I was telling some colleagues that some of Bonhoeffer's images and writing about this grace is too much for me. It is as though I see myself as some of those followers of Jesus who...decided to stay behind and walk their own way. You know, good message...but...maybe not a life for me. Unfortunately, the walk in the way of Jesus is already a part of the gift that enables us to walk more...and to wander into the presence of others who are also stepping off to begin a daily walk with this Lord who claims us and gives us way to move through this day. Whew!!
Connection: Some days it is good to simply shake our heads and praise our God for being so graceful and loving that we can let go of all the many ways we attempt to control our universe...which is really not our universe at all!
Lord God, enable us to enter this day by singing "O Day Full of Grace" so that we will remember whose hands hold all things and whose love sustains all things. In the singing of those words, let us be supported by its truthfulness and thus be fed the bread of life that brings your love into this day. Amen.
Tuesday, August 29, 2006
30 August 2006
Before we can talk of costly grace Bonhoeffer continues to spell out what "cheap grace" looks like.
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.
...That is what we mean by cheap grace, the grace which amounts to the justification of sin without the justification of the repentant sinner who departs from sin and from whom sin departs. Cheap grace is not the kind of forgiveness of sin which frees us from the toils of sin. Cheap grace is the grace we bestow on ourselves.
Cheap grace sounds like an incomplete job. There is no new life...just life made to feel good for now...for this moment...the way we want to feel good. It sounds like cheap grace never helps us move on and face life from a new perspective because we have really never moved into a new space. Cheap grace is so me centered, it has no power to change me. It may have a sweetness to it like a scene in a movie that can move me to tears, but it cannot transform those tears into abundant new life. Cheap grace seems to do a good job at keeping people just where there are. Maybe that is why it is so wonderful to see people with some years behind them find themselves tackled by God's grace as though it was never a power in their lives. When we are fed by cheap grace, it appears as though we are not really fed and satisfied. When someone is satisfied - fed -by new life, there is a deep sense of peace that passes all understanding. This cheap grace does not bring that gift to our lives.
Connection: Sometimes it is good to reflect on what it is that really brings us peace and helps us to turn around into a new life just waiting for us.
We long for your love to hold us and change us and bring about a new reality that we cannot bring about on our own, O God. Often we think we can do this...but we really never move into something new. Lead us into that newness and bid us to follow your way. Amen.
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.
...That is what we mean by cheap grace, the grace which amounts to the justification of sin without the justification of the repentant sinner who departs from sin and from whom sin departs. Cheap grace is not the kind of forgiveness of sin which frees us from the toils of sin. Cheap grace is the grace we bestow on ourselves.
Cheap grace sounds like an incomplete job. There is no new life...just life made to feel good for now...for this moment...the way we want to feel good. It sounds like cheap grace never helps us move on and face life from a new perspective because we have really never moved into a new space. Cheap grace is so me centered, it has no power to change me. It may have a sweetness to it like a scene in a movie that can move me to tears, but it cannot transform those tears into abundant new life. Cheap grace seems to do a good job at keeping people just where there are. Maybe that is why it is so wonderful to see people with some years behind them find themselves tackled by God's grace as though it was never a power in their lives. When we are fed by cheap grace, it appears as though we are not really fed and satisfied. When someone is satisfied - fed -by new life, there is a deep sense of peace that passes all understanding. This cheap grace does not bring that gift to our lives.
Connection: Sometimes it is good to reflect on what it is that really brings us peace and helps us to turn around into a new life just waiting for us.
We long for your love to hold us and change us and bring about a new reality that we cannot bring about on our own, O God. Often we think we can do this...but we really never move into something new. Lead us into that newness and bid us to follow your way. Amen.
Monday, August 28, 2006
29 August 2006
We will continue taking from Bonhoeffer and his writing on grace - cheap & costly.
Cheap grace means grace as a doctrine, a principle, a system. It means forgiveness of sins proclaimed as a general truth the love of God taught as the Christian "conception" of God. An intellectual assent to that idea is held to be of itself sufficient to secure remission of sins. The Church which holds the correct doctrine of grace has, it is supposed, ipso facto a part in that grace. In such a Church the world finds a cheap covering for its sins; no contrition is required, still less any real desire to be delivered from sin. Cheap grace therefore amounts to a denial of the living Word of God, in fact a denial of the Incarnation of the Word of God.
It sounds as thought he general concept of a God who paints everything nice and clean just because that is what God does is all a part of what can be so cheap about grace. We have all heard such a word and probably been a part of it. It is really a mushy word that may have an immediate impact on someone but then...it has no substance upon which we can build our lives in a new way. Even though we have yet to hear Bonhoeffer talk about costly grace, we can hear in his description of cheap grace the voice (of costly grace) that is calling for - a life shift - a remaking of life - a transformation - a letting go of what we like to control and a turning to that which is in God's hands. I often find that as I am talking about the love of God it is so very easy to leave off the cost that comes in, with, and under the word of grace. It is like forgetting to tell the story of the night in which our Lord was betrayed as we enter into the Eucharistic banquet. The banquet must tell the whole story which is also the story of our lives - the utter brokenness and the amazing grace that opens up space beyond our fall so that we can step into something very new and yet very much out of our control.
Connection: We must all learn to say "yes" and "no" and to live with the tension of taking both of these words to heart. It is also important to note that in every "yes" there must be some shape of "no" that needs to be heard - and vice versa.
Come, Lord Jesus, and take us up within you gracious Reign so that as we face this day we will continue to look at where we will walk as your followers. Encourage us as we see the many places into which you carry us so that we will not run away from the expansive love of your way. Amen.
Cheap grace means grace as a doctrine, a principle, a system. It means forgiveness of sins proclaimed as a general truth the love of God taught as the Christian "conception" of God. An intellectual assent to that idea is held to be of itself sufficient to secure remission of sins. The Church which holds the correct doctrine of grace has, it is supposed, ipso facto a part in that grace. In such a Church the world finds a cheap covering for its sins; no contrition is required, still less any real desire to be delivered from sin. Cheap grace therefore amounts to a denial of the living Word of God, in fact a denial of the Incarnation of the Word of God.
It sounds as thought he general concept of a God who paints everything nice and clean just because that is what God does is all a part of what can be so cheap about grace. We have all heard such a word and probably been a part of it. It is really a mushy word that may have an immediate impact on someone but then...it has no substance upon which we can build our lives in a new way. Even though we have yet to hear Bonhoeffer talk about costly grace, we can hear in his description of cheap grace the voice (of costly grace) that is calling for - a life shift - a remaking of life - a transformation - a letting go of what we like to control and a turning to that which is in God's hands. I often find that as I am talking about the love of God it is so very easy to leave off the cost that comes in, with, and under the word of grace. It is like forgetting to tell the story of the night in which our Lord was betrayed as we enter into the Eucharistic banquet. The banquet must tell the whole story which is also the story of our lives - the utter brokenness and the amazing grace that opens up space beyond our fall so that we can step into something very new and yet very much out of our control.
Connection: We must all learn to say "yes" and "no" and to live with the tension of taking both of these words to heart. It is also important to note that in every "yes" there must be some shape of "no" that needs to be heard - and vice versa.
Come, Lord Jesus, and take us up within you gracious Reign so that as we face this day we will continue to look at where we will walk as your followers. Encourage us as we see the many places into which you carry us so that we will not run away from the expansive love of your way. Amen.
Sunday, August 27, 2006
28 August 2006
Today begins a walk through the first few sections of "The Cost of Discipleship" by Dietrich Bonhoeffer. I could easily quote every word he writes but I will use some self control We will begin with a look at Costly Grace.
Cheap grace is the deadly enemy of our Church. We are fighting to-day for costly grace. Cheap grace means...The sacraments, the forgiveness of sin, and the consolations of religion are thrown away at cut prices. Grace is represented as the Church's inexhaustible treasury, from which she showers blessings with generous hands, without asking questions or fixing limits. Grace without price; grace without cost!
I suppose one could say that there is also situations in which the church offers no grace at all. In other words, it is all about me and what I can do to be right with God. But here, we see something different. Cheap grace as that word from the Church that is afraid to call for action and new life becomes something hollow and worth little to any of us. It is a part of a feel-good trap in which people are not really invited into the new age - the Reign of God - the life of the body of Christ. I find myself in a constant battle with myself over just this way of being Church. We must remind ourselves constantly that we are called by our Lord, to follow him. That is quite direct - Follow! "Come and see" does not have tacked onto it..."If you all want to." No, this is an invitation to take part in a joyous life that does and will walk to the cross. Cheap grace seems to be afraid to ask deep questions and to say "Yes" at time and to also say "No" at other times. Cheap grace means "the justification of sin without the justification of the sinner." Transformation and new life does not take place if we simply paint over the offense - the break - the fall. Rather, it takes place when we - our whole being and everything about us - turns around and begins to live a new. That is not a conditional statement...it is a reality.
Connection: We are handed eternal life. It is offered to us. We stand at the beginning of this and every day with that reality in front of us. So...what do we do!?! Use the invitation as a way to get away with living the life we always want for ourselves. Or...is the invitation a power that grabs us and leads us - for now - into a life we probably would not choose for ourselves.
Lord of the Resurrection, we know that we are invited to follow you. We are aware that we only do that to the degree would like. We also know that you call us beyond our vision and you empower us to go there and reside in your Reign. Be for us that sustaining power that enables us to live with the new domain of your gracious love. Amen.
Cheap grace is the deadly enemy of our Church. We are fighting to-day for costly grace. Cheap grace means...The sacraments, the forgiveness of sin, and the consolations of religion are thrown away at cut prices. Grace is represented as the Church's inexhaustible treasury, from which she showers blessings with generous hands, without asking questions or fixing limits. Grace without price; grace without cost!
I suppose one could say that there is also situations in which the church offers no grace at all. In other words, it is all about me and what I can do to be right with God. But here, we see something different. Cheap grace as that word from the Church that is afraid to call for action and new life becomes something hollow and worth little to any of us. It is a part of a feel-good trap in which people are not really invited into the new age - the Reign of God - the life of the body of Christ. I find myself in a constant battle with myself over just this way of being Church. We must remind ourselves constantly that we are called by our Lord, to follow him. That is quite direct - Follow! "Come and see" does not have tacked onto it..."If you all want to." No, this is an invitation to take part in a joyous life that does and will walk to the cross. Cheap grace seems to be afraid to ask deep questions and to say "Yes" at time and to also say "No" at other times. Cheap grace means "the justification of sin without the justification of the sinner." Transformation and new life does not take place if we simply paint over the offense - the break - the fall. Rather, it takes place when we - our whole being and everything about us - turns around and begins to live a new. That is not a conditional statement...it is a reality.
Connection: We are handed eternal life. It is offered to us. We stand at the beginning of this and every day with that reality in front of us. So...what do we do!?! Use the invitation as a way to get away with living the life we always want for ourselves. Or...is the invitation a power that grabs us and leads us - for now - into a life we probably would not choose for ourselves.
Lord of the Resurrection, we know that we are invited to follow you. We are aware that we only do that to the degree would like. We also know that you call us beyond our vision and you empower us to go there and reside in your Reign. Be for us that sustaining power that enables us to live with the new domain of your gracious love. Amen.
Thursday, August 24, 2006
25 August 2006
The week comes to an end with what will be the last of our run through a section of Douglas John Hall's book The Cross in our Context."
Christians, we have maintained, are those who through confrontations with death are given a new freedom from the sting of death and so a new freedom for voluntary service to others. Surely if this claim has any truth in it, then it is not our own suffering but the suffering of the world beyond us that must claim our attention. Indeed, is not the whole purpose of our liberation from excessive personal anxiety the creation within us of a new consciousness of and care for others? Just here we encounter the transition from theology to ethics. The theology of the cross is intended to give rise not only to an ecclesiology of the cross, but to an ethic, the essence of which it the attentiveness to human and worldly suffering that is made possible in those who have been and are being delivered from self.
Christians, we have maintained, are those who through confrontations with death are given a new freedom from the sting of death and so a new freedom for voluntary service to others. Surely if this claim has any truth in it, then it is not our own suffering but the suffering of the world beyond us that must claim our attention. Indeed, is not the whole purpose of our liberation from excessive personal anxiety the creation within us of a new consciousness of and care for others? Just here we encounter the transition from theology to ethics. The theology of the cross is intended to give rise not only to an ecclesiology of the cross, but to an ethic, the essence of which it the attentiveness to human and worldly suffering that is made possible in those who have been and are being delivered from self.
25 August 2006
The week comes to an end with what will be the last of our run through a section of Douglas John Hall's book The Cross in our Context."
Christians, we have maintained, are those who through confrontations with death are given a new freedom from the sting of death and so a new freedom for voluntary service to others. Surely if this claim has any truth in it, then it is not our own suffering but the suffering of the world beyond us that must claim our attention. Indeed, is not the whole purpose of our liberation from excessive personal anxiety the creation within us of a new consciousness of and care for others? Just here we encounter the transition from theology to ethics. The theology of the cross is intended to give rise not only to an ecclesiology of the cross, but to an ethic, the essence of which it the attentiveness to human and worldly suffering that is made possible in those who have been and are being delivered from self.
When we walk from the gathered saints who are present to hear the word and share the Lord's Supper, we walk into an arena of people suffer in many and various ways. The stories we hear in worship are not ones that tell us how we are to use power to overcome the world. Rather, we use this odd notion of love - Jesus' love for the lost and the least and the lowest - and it is given away so freely it is down right offensive. In some of my most recent reading, I'm seeing that many of the growing "Christian" movements in our country do not know of the way of the cross. They can only pull from Scripture ways that give them an excuse to want to take over and rule other. No longer are they drawn into the lives of others in order to serve - rather they come to create conformity and to rule with an iron hand that can only see the world in black and white. I don't think I have ever noticed that Jesus' love was black and white. It was and is unconditional. That is what puts him up on the cross. Had Jesus been a part of the movement of some of the extreme and powerful forces of today's Christian right, there would have been no crucifixion...excuse me, maybe Pilates.
Connection: I think the sign out from our church building says: Dialogue is the beginning of love. I really do think that is part of the ethic of the followers of Jesus who move out into the world. We do not go out into this day armed with a mindset that is ruled by fear. We engage and enter into the lives of any.
When you send us out into this day, O Lord, send us with your Spirit. Send us as ones empowered to love rather than rule. Within that loving presence, shape us into the way of your beloved, Jesus, so that the world may see over and over again - your presence alive among us. Amen.
Christians, we have maintained, are those who through confrontations with death are given a new freedom from the sting of death and so a new freedom for voluntary service to others. Surely if this claim has any truth in it, then it is not our own suffering but the suffering of the world beyond us that must claim our attention. Indeed, is not the whole purpose of our liberation from excessive personal anxiety the creation within us of a new consciousness of and care for others? Just here we encounter the transition from theology to ethics. The theology of the cross is intended to give rise not only to an ecclesiology of the cross, but to an ethic, the essence of which it the attentiveness to human and worldly suffering that is made possible in those who have been and are being delivered from self.
When we walk from the gathered saints who are present to hear the word and share the Lord's Supper, we walk into an arena of people suffer in many and various ways. The stories we hear in worship are not ones that tell us how we are to use power to overcome the world. Rather, we use this odd notion of love - Jesus' love for the lost and the least and the lowest - and it is given away so freely it is down right offensive. In some of my most recent reading, I'm seeing that many of the growing "Christian" movements in our country do not know of the way of the cross. They can only pull from Scripture ways that give them an excuse to want to take over and rule other. No longer are they drawn into the lives of others in order to serve - rather they come to create conformity and to rule with an iron hand that can only see the world in black and white. I don't think I have ever noticed that Jesus' love was black and white. It was and is unconditional. That is what puts him up on the cross. Had Jesus been a part of the movement of some of the extreme and powerful forces of today's Christian right, there would have been no crucifixion...excuse me, maybe Pilates.
Connection: I think the sign out from our church building says: Dialogue is the beginning of love. I really do think that is part of the ethic of the followers of Jesus who move out into the world. We do not go out into this day armed with a mindset that is ruled by fear. We engage and enter into the lives of any.
When you send us out into this day, O Lord, send us with your Spirit. Send us as ones empowered to love rather than rule. Within that loving presence, shape us into the way of your beloved, Jesus, so that the world may see over and over again - your presence alive among us. Amen.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)