Grace in dangerous places

On Monday night I went out for a drink with some friends, one of whom happens to be gay. Brought up in the church and a follower of Christ, albeit in ‘another’ place on his journey at the moment we had some fascinating and revealing discussions about how the church (not just our church) can converse with those in the gay community.

Historically the church has taken a very aggressive stance when it comes to the issue of homosexuality. This seems to be the view that most in conservative, reformed western christianity will take. Where the most effective way to ‘engage with’ is to ‘protest against.‘ This stance usually informed more by cultural stereotypes than scripture only serves to reinforce the stereotype which the Gay community has of the church; That God hates Gays. I don’t see any verses in scripture that say this. I do see verses that talk about all people being made in the image of God and of a God who finds all sin completely abhorrent but who also so completely loved the world and everyone in it that in grace he sent his only Son to be handed over for execution by the very people who professed to worship Him.

As a church we can’t just see grace as that which operates in places where we permit it to. We must be released from the fear of letting grace go with a license to roam, crossing boundaries, divides and stereotypes. Where is the one place you would find it difficult to see grace operating? Or who is the one person or group of people who you would struggle to operate in grace to? Or to ask the question that was put to Jesus. Who is my neighbour? Who is the one I am supposed to love as myself? The answer Your neighbour is the person you hate the most.
Unleashing grace into a situation doesn’t mean that you are approving of what is going on. What it does mean is that regardless of what is going on I will not let that stop me from displaying the full range and breadth of God’s amazing grace. As much as grace was not withheld from us in our deeply fallen sinful state we don’t have license to withhold grace from anyone or any situation. We can operate in grace because we were first rescued by grace. 

We must allow grace to operate in dangerous places too. In places where cultures, communities and morals collide. These are the places where you find Jesus throughout the Gospels. These are the places where nobody else would go. These are the places loaded with cultural stereotypes and myths that Jesus explodes with simple words and acts of outrageous grace. These were the places where grace, love and mercy were spilt into the situations and lives of the culturally unacceptable, the outcasts and the filth of society. Grace that would permeate the hidden cracks and crevices of society, the places where others feared to go.

I don’t see a Jesus in the Gospels spending all His time with the Pharisees, Scribes and teachers of the law. I see someone who to the utter disgust of the religious legalists spent time eating and partying with sinners. I see someone who during one of the few times that He does eat with a Pharisee has his feet washed by someone who was most likely the town prostitute. This is the man that would touch the filthy lepers, engage with the scum bag tax collectors, open up the kingdom to the adulteress, love the enemy and get in the face of the Scribes and Pharisees letting them know that they the “hypocrites…shut the kingdom in peoples faces!”

Where did we get the idea that because some people are engaged in certain sins they are not ‘worthy’ of our care, attention, help, prayers, thoughts, love and most of all the story we have to tell?

The other day I was watching my two youngest girls playing together. One of them snatched a toy from the other, great offense was taken. What followed was two young children screaming in each others faces at the top of their voices “It’s mine, mine mine mine!” Neither of them were listening to the other nor did they have any intention of doing so. They just wanted the score settled and in their 2 year old kind of way this was the best means of achieving that. I’m trying to help my girls learn to communicate better, with a little more sensitivity, maturity and openness. It’s not easy because in their immaturity each one thinks that they are right and the other is wrong and nobody ends up communicating anything to anyone.

Maybe we can learn from this. We can shout, scream, picket and protest all we like but none of this amounts to anything meaningful. Maybe it’s time we realised that it’s ok not to agree with someone and at the same time be able to engage in conversation and share grace with them. It’s called growing up.

Comments

Good article.

By David. Posted on Thursday 19th Nov 2009 at 15:14

excellent article - challenging and encouraging as I have had friends in very similar places - many who have struggled with their identity over the years and have wanted to talk, find answers, needed help and support but have left their churches feeling disillusioned - we have so much more to learn about grace!

By Gillian Stewart. Posted on Saturday 21st Nov 2009 at 17:16

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