Finding Grace in Unlikely Places

Brad and I are on a plane to London. Dinner is over and I head back to the toilet for a quick visit before settling down to watch a movie. A few minutes later I return to my seat and Brad asks me why I'm smiling. I tell him that it was the first spiritual experience that I've ever had on an airplane. I hasten to add, "No, I haven't really lost my mind."

In case the photo is too blurry for you to read, the bottle of hand soap reads:

"pure grace ... with clean hands we find our grace. we realize the slate can be as clean as we allow it to be"

Think about it.

What Not to Wear ... to Worship

I never expected this to be the subject of a front page article in the Washington Post, so I was surprised to see Michelle Boorstein's article on the front page of Saturday's print edition.

"Churches grapple with clothing and what’s appropriate as summer heats up"

I won't quote from or summarize the article, because you can click on it and read it yourself. But it did cause me to examine my own views on this subject.

When I was a child in the 1950's women wore dresses, hats, stockings and gloves (white for summer) when they went to church, regardless of the weather.  Men wore suit and tie ... always.  But this is what they wore for all "dressy" occasions that took place during the daytime.  Times have indeed changed.  More casual clothing -- what I call "nice casual" as opposed to faded jeans and T-shirts -- is now de rigueur for most restaurants, parties and events.

Those who support more relaxed dress codes do so on the basis that congregants should come to God just as they are, and that communion with God requires no special clothing. Those who support more formal dress consider that although communion with God does indeed not require special clothing, a church service is an office of devotion and as a matter of respect, it is therefore appropriate to wear one's best attire.

In his essay "Clothing Matters: What We Wear to Church," Duane Litfin argues that what we wear to worship DOES matter. "In the Old Testament, the place of worship and everything about it was considered holy. Worshipers were taught to approach that "sacred space" with awe and reverence. Today, God's people, both individually and corporately, do not visit that sacred space; they constitute that sacred space." Although he doesn't suggest that we all return to the white-gloves-and-hat days, Duane makes a good case for making a little extra effort to look clean, modest and respectable.  I can't help but agree.

Nevertheless, I think it's more important to come to church, and to participate in corporate worship, than it is to worry about what I'm wearing.  If I'm doing something else during the day on Sunday, and just barely make it to the 5:00 pm service, I'm going to attend regardless of what I'm wearing rather than miss Sunday worship entirely.   I believe that God would rather have me there, and I KNOW that I would rather have me there.

I would rather see a church full of people in all varieties of dress than a church only half-full of well-dressed parishioners.  I want my church to welcome teenagers in tank tops and flip flops.  I want poor visitors to feel welcome at the communion rail, even if they spent the night in a shelter and didn't have an opportunity to shower.  In the words of Charlotte Elliott's hymn, I believe that if we come, God will receive me "just as I am."

"Just as I am, Thou wilt receive,

Wilt welcome, pardon, cleanse, relieve;

Because Thy promise I believe,

O Lamb of God, I come, I come."

Just as God receives us as we are, I pray they we may receive each other with grace and love.

What do you think?

What is Grace?

"For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God." (Ephesians 2:8)

What is grace? Grace is soft like the wing of a dove. It’s quiet but not silent, like the murmur of a stream or the rustle of a gentle breeze. It’s easy on the eye, soft grey or light blue. It’s comforting, like a light cotton blanket on a chilly evening. If grace has a taste, it’s like a drink of cool, fresh water.

When I started this blog, I called it “Graceful Worship” because that’s the name of my column in our monthly church newsletter. (Our church is Grace Church, and most of the time my column addresses how we worship, and why.) It recently struck me that I write about grace all the time, without ever having done any research about what grace really is. (I was about to write “Grace isn’t something you should take for granted” but then I stopped … because grace IS something you can take for granted. More on that later...)

As usual, I went to several dictionaries first, and discovered that the word “grace” comes from Middle English, via Old French, and originally from Latin gratia, meaning “pleasing” or “thankful.” In modern English it has three different possible meanings.

1.      Unmerited or unearned divine assistance, approval or favor given to human beings for their regeneration or sanctification. From this connotation we get phrases like “state of grace” or “in his good graces.”

2.      Special privilege or clemency, such as can be bestowed by a member of the nobility. From this we get phrases such as the title “Your Grace” for an English Duke, “grace and favour” for a property leased rent-free by a King or Queen to a retainer, or “grace period” as a temporary reprieve.

3.      Beauty and elegance of form or action. From this we get “graceful” dancers or “the social graces.”

All three of these meanings relate back to the Latin root meaning of “pleasing” or “thankful.” But it probably won’t come as any surprise that I’m now going to focus on the first meaning, divine grace.

In the Old Testament, the Hebrew term used is chen, which is defined in Strong's Concordance as "favor, grace or charm; grace is the moral quality of kindness, displaying a favorable disposition". In the King James translation, chen is translated as "grace" 38 times, "favor" 26 times, twice as "gracious", once as "pleasant" and once as "precious". In the New Testament, the word translated as grace is the Greek word charis, for which Strong's gives this definition: “Grace, the state of kindness and favor towards someone, often with a focus on a benefit given to the object.” A Greek word that is related to charis is charisma (gracious gift). Both these words originated from another Greek word chairo (to rejoice, be glad, delighted).

Divine grace is a term used in many religions, and can mean the divine influence that operates in human beings to regenerate and sanctify, to inspire virtuous impulses, and to impart strength to endure trial and resist temptation. Christian grace is the free and unmerited favor of God as manifested in the salvation of sinners and the bestowing of blessings. When Roman Catholics pray the Rosary, they say “Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee” because the mother of Jesus didn’t do anything special to merit the blessing of being the mother of Jesus.

God extends grace to all of mankind throughout all ages and conditions. This is the grace which brings the seasons, the rains, the sunshine and the revelation of God within nature. I think of Psalms 145:9, "The Lord is good to all: and his tender mercies are over all his works."

We often think of the Holy Spirit when we think of grace. Grace is a gift of the Holy Spirit, the result of the Holy Spirit working in our lives. The Holy Spirit performs the action, and grace is the result.

Christian teaching tells us that grace is “unmerited,” but this definition doesn’t exactly cover all uses of the term in scripture. For example, Luke 2:40 says "And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom: and the grace of God was upon him." In this example, when using the definition of grace to mean unmerited favor, it does not make sense that the sinless Christ would need this. How can one fall short of grace in James 4:6 (“God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble”), or how can meekness attract it and pride repel it in Galatians 5:4 (“You who want to be justified by the law have cut yourselves off from Christ; you have fallen away from grace”), if it is unmerited. James Ryle, founder of TruthWorks Ministry, suggests that "Grace is the empowering presence of God enabling you to be who He created you to be, and to do what He has called you to do." Bill Gothard, founder of the Institute in Basic Life Principles, suggests that "Grace gives us the desire and the power that God gives us to do his will."

Within Christianity there are differing concepts of grace, and Roman Catholics and Protestants often use the word in substantially different ways. It is described by Charles C. Ryrie in The Grace of God as “the watershed that divides Catholicism from Protestantism, Calvinism from Arminianism, and modern liberalism from conservatism.” Roman Catholic doctrine teaches that God has imparted Divine Grace upon humanity, and uses the sacraments to facilitate the reception of his grace. In the Catholic Church a state of grace is granted by God from baptism first, instead of plainly by faith, and from the sacrament of reconciliation after if a mortal sin is committed. A mortal sin makes the state of grace lost even if faith is still present. Protestants, generally, do not share this sacramental view. We believe that Divine Grace is directly and always available to mankind.

"Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ." 

(2 Thessalonians 1:2)