Grace…

Amazing Grace… John Newton  

What’s So Amazing About Grace?...Philip Yancey

Indeed!  What is so amazing about grace?  Before I went to seminary, I thought the problem with the Lutheran Church was too much grace.  What we needed was a little more fire and brimstone—a little more hellfire would whip us all into shape—fill the pews AND the Sunday School classes and cure all that ails this tired old world.  All this talk about love and mercy and compassion was turning us into soft fuzzy feel good Christians and we had lost our edge and will for fighting the good fight and defeating evil in all of its forms out there in the world.

Oh, I know,  and I knew then too…

              For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing;

             it is the gift of God— not the result of works, so that no one may boast.

             For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works,

             which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life.                                                                                                                                            Ephesians 2:8-10

But, why shouldn’t that way of life include a passage very near the end of Ephesians?

             Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his power. Put on the

             hole armor of God, so that you may be able to stand against the wiles of

             the devil. For our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but

             against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this

             present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

             Therefore take up the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to

             withstand on that evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm.

                                                                                 Ephesians 6:10-14

Oh, yes!  Onward Christian Soldiers—here we come.  Watch out world because we are marching as to war!!  I think I had visions more of Joan of Arc, D-Day, Eisenhower, Churchill, Roosevelt, F-100s and B-52s leading the way than I did the cross of Jesus going on before.  We had turned the Church into a bomb shelter or some kind of a USO dance.  The time for R&R was over, we needed to get into the fray.  Onward Christian Soldiers marching as to war—and don’t forget—the cross of Jesus going on before—we might need that for something.

I had read the rest of the passage…

          Stand therefore, and fasten the belt of truth around your waist, and put on the

          breastplate of righteousness.  As shoes for your feet put on whatever will make

          you ready to proclaim the gospel of peace. With all of these, take the shield of

          faith, with which you will be able to quench all the flaming arrows of the evil one.

         Take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

                                                                                    Ephesians 6:15-17 

…mostly though I saw breastplate, shield—oh, yeah, we were going to need those where we were going.  And, flaming arrows, yeah we could use a few of those where we were going, you know to throw back at the evil one.  And, a helmet and a sword, yes, those looked like good ideas too.   Shoes for proclaiming peace?  I was not so sure about that.  Where I was going combat boots seemed more appropriate—so I kinda skipped over that part. 

I was armored up and ready to go and fight the good fight.  No more R&R or USO dances or hanging out in the bomb shelter for this girl.  Jonah had been spit out of the belly of the whale, Joan of Arc move over because there was a new kid on the block.  Grace, I knew all about grace.  But sometimes you just got to get out there and fight the good fight.

I thought I knew about grace, but maybe I did not really know Amazing Grace, the grace that saved a wretch like the mean, ugly, slave trading, fighting with everybody man called John Newton.  When I learned about the writer of that hymn, I agreed—it was pretty amazing that God’s grace could touch someone like him and give him a change of heart.  Yes, indeed, pretty amazing.

But you know, really, when you get right down to it, what’s so amazing about grace is that I do not have to fight the good fight—and neither do you.  The battle is already over.  Armageddon?  Jesus already fought that battle and the Lamb—the same one who was the only one worthy to open the Book of Life in John’s Revelation—the Lamb who was slain but lives has already claimed the victory

When I finally took off my combat boots, I discovered I was standing barefoot on holy ground and the bush was on fire with the glory of God and the bush is always on fire.  We just have to take off the combat boots to feel the holy ground and there’s that bush standing right there in front of us and the bush is never consumed.  When I did, I discovered that the rest of that armored I had been carrying around was truth, righteousness, faith, salvation, and the word of God.  I am still thinking about what I need on my feet to be able to proclaim the gospel of peace.  But I am trying out different shoes and one day I pray to have found it.

Peace and blessings

Sharon Wiggins, pastor at large

(Bible passages are NRSV)