All is Grace – A Thank You to Brennan Manning

To live by grace means to acknowledge my whole life story, the light side and the dark. In admitting my shadow side I learn who I am and what God’s grace means. As Thomas Merton put it, “A saint is not someone who is good but who experiences the goodness of God.”The gospel of grace nullifies our adulation of televangelists, charismatic superstars, and local church heroes. It obliterates the two-class citizenship theory operative in many American churches. For grace proclaims the awesome truth that all is a gift. All that is good is ours not by right but by the sheer bounty of a gracious God. While there is much we may have earned–our degree and our salary, our home and garden, a Miller Lite and a good night’s sleep–all this is possible only because we have been given so much: life itself, eyes to see and hands to touch, a mind to shape ideas, and a heart to beat with love. We have been given God in our souls and Christ in our flesh. We have the power to believe where others deny, to hope where others despair, to love where others hurt. This and so much more is sheer gift; it is not reward for our faithfulness, our generous disposition, or our heroic life of prayer. Even our fidelity is a gift, “If we but turn to God,” said St. Augustine, “that itself is a gift of God.” My deepest awareness of myself is that I am deeply loved by Jesus Christ and I have done nothing to earn it or deserve it.”~ Brennan Manning (Th Ragamuffin Gospel)

Brennan Manning died yesterday, Friday, April 12, 2013. Brennan Manning once helped save my life.

I first read The Ragamuffin Gospel several years after it was published in 1990. Before Brennan, I thought grace was a nice word used in a benediction. I also thought that I was less raggedy than the average muffin.

As the years passed and the cracks in my veneer began to spiderweb, I no longer thought I was a such a fine person. I didn’t see grace as a priceless gift from a loving Father. Grace had become something you fall from and I’d fallen far. And I remembered Brennan.

Re-reading The Ragamuffin Gospel as a broken person was like reading an entirely different book. It became my Life 101 book: God loves you as you are and not as you should be… Abba loves you very much…

My life is a witness to vulgar grace — a grace that amazes as it offends. A grace that pays the eager beaver who works all day long the same wage as the grinning drunk who shows up at ten till five. A grace that hikes up the robe and runs breakneck toward the prodigal reeking of sin and wraps him up and decides to throw a party, no ifs, ands, or buts. A grace that raises bloodshot eyes to a dying thief’s request — “Please, remember me” — and assures him, “You bet!”…This vulgar grace is indiscriminate compassion. It works without asking anything of us. It’s not cheap. It’s free, and as such will always be a banana peel for the orthodox foot and a fairy tale for the grown-up sensibility. Grace is sufficient even though we huff and puff with all our might to try and find something or someone that it cannot cover. Grace is enough… ~ Brennan Manning (All is Grace)

I would say Rest in Peace, Brennan, but I don’t think he resting. I think the Father has wrapped His arms around him and is throwing him a party!

Knowing God’s Will

My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think that I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road though I may know nothing about it. Therefore will I trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone. ~ Thomas Merton

I took a class once on how to know God’s will. It was a large group and, as you might expect, there were a wide variety of views, varying from: You can’t –  to God will tell you where to park your car if you’re listening. Scripture was cited supporting every possible position and the debate was lively and endless.

I’m not much of a debater. I won’t presume to tell you how you can know God’s will. I can only tell you what I know about myself which is not all that much, as it turns out.

I was a Psych major. You know the type. I was one of those people who was always drawing out other people’s feelings while tabling my own. I would have described myself as hugely introspective. I thought that I thought very deep thoughts.

Merton was right. I don’t really know myself and the fact that I think I’m following God’s will doesn’t necessarily mean that I am.

But, along with Merton, I do want to follow Him and I believe that the desire to please God, pleases God. And that’s grace, isn’t it?

And so is this: I also believe that He will lead me by the right road, though I may know nothing about it. Therefore will I trust Him always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear,  for He is ever with me, and He will never leave me to face my perils alone.

With Grace and Gratitude

To be grateful is to recognize the Love of God in everything He has given us – and He has given us everything. Every breath we draw is a gift of His love, every moment of existence is a grace, for it brings with it immense graces from Him.
Gratitude therefore takes nothing for granted, is never unresponsive, is constantly awakening to new wonder and to praise of the goodness of God. For the grateful person knows that God is good, not by hearsay but by experience.                     ~ Thomas Merton

~

It’s the day before Thanksgiving. Despite the name, I’m not sure there’s really that much thanks associated with Thanksgiving. It’s more about floats and food and family and football and that’s OK because Thanksgiving is a holiday.

There’s nothing in the definition of holiday that includes holiness or happiness. A holiday, according to Webster, is a day on which one is exempt from work. And even though 17% of US workers will spend Thanksgiving at work, most will find some way on some day to celebrate.

But because holidays receive a so much hype, it’s hard not to wrap them up in a glitzy mess of assumptions and expectations. On one hand, it’s easy to give way to the idea that everyone else is having a Norman Rockwell day. It’s equally easy to expect magic – to build in expectations that this day, this year, this time, will be different, will be perfect.

The reality is that holidays are intrinsically a celebration of life and love and blessings for some and a reminder of loss and loneliness and lack for others. Which they are for whom varies from year to year. But thankfulness, gratitude –  takes nothing for granted. It isn’t reserved for the 4th Thursday of November.

It’s not the state of Thanksgiving that concerns me, it’s the condition of my own heart on each and every day. Am I seeking to have a heart that’s rich with thankfulness and an awareness that God has already given me everything? Am I living a life so filled with grace that it spills out all over everywhere? Am I so steeped in gratitude that I take less and less for granted?

May this Thanksgiving and the day after and the day after that be days of grace and gratitude for each of us, simply because we know God is good, not by hearsay, but by experience.

Hate the Sin, Love the Sinner?

Our job is to love others without stopping to inquire whether or not they are worthy. That is not our business and, in fact, it is nobody’s business (but God’s). What we are asked to do is to love.    ~ Thomas Merton

Hate the sin, love the sinner. Everyone’s heard it. You may have come across it in the teachings of Mahatma Gandhi or when reading The City of God by Augustine. Today though, most folks know the words as a popular Christian cliché that shows up on bumper stickers and protest signs.

Where you won’t find it is in the Bible unless the verse is referring to God. God hates sin. God loves sinners. He does both perfectly. He loves sinners without self-interest. He hates sin without malice.

The slogan has become something of a rallying cry for Christians. It seems, though, that when you hear the people in the streets with their placards or the admonition from the pulpit or pews, the emphasis is more on the Hate than the Love part.

It’s a difficult thing – hating the sin while loving the sinner – particularly when applied to strangers. Can I presume to be so wise as to distinguish between the essential you, whose heart I can’t see, and the external you, whose behavior I can observe?

It’s also problematic because there are so many sins to choose from. This typically leads to selective sin hatred – hating some sins quite a lot and accepting others as just human nature (a little gossip, a little lust, a little pride).

Added to the that is the burden of judging others all the time and keeping that ever watchful eye on everyone else’s behavior (since there’s no single special sin to hate).

And finally, it requires the assumption that I’m able to discern a definitive sin list for each person and that I’m without error in my interpretation and application of the scriptures.

It’s a very sticky wicket, this loving hating thing. The weight of God’s words seem to fall heavily on the love part. As imperfect as I am at loving, I’m trying to keep my heart and my focus there.

I think a better slogan for me in this journey of grace would be: Hate my sin, love all sinners!

A Remedy for the Regular

Do not look for rest in any pleasure, because you were not created for pleasure: you were created for Joy. And if you do not know the difference between pleasure and joy you have not yet begun to live. ~ Thomas Merton

Pleasure, however grand, isn’t sustainable. It wasn’t meant to be. If it were, we wouldn’t experience it because there would be no ordinary and no pain to give it definition. Yet, there’s a persistent temptation to measure ourselves or to measure the quality and value of our lives by our varying degrees of pain and pleasure.

Just as everyday life can seem mundane after experiences of pleasure, it comes as a sweet relief after periods of pain. Pain always seeks a remedy and when I experience it, I’m momentarily grateful for the ordinary.

On the rare occasion that I have a terrible sore throat, or a bout with the flu or a period of heartbreak, I long for the regular. But once my throat or my stomach or my heart are back in place, it’s the regular that seems to be in need of a remedy. That’s the pull of pleasure. But pleasure wasn’t meant to be a full course, only a taste.

Joy is something altogether different. Joy comes in and remakes me. Joy is my traveling companion through both pain and pleasure. Joy sustains.

I’m learning to see pain as God’s megaphone (C.S. Lewis); pleasure as God’s gift; and Joy as God’s grace!

Olly, Olly Oxen Free!

The logic of worldly success rests on a fallacy – the strange error that our perfection depends on the thoughts and opinions and applause of others. A weird life it is to be living always in somebody else’s imagination, as if that were the only place in which one could become real. ~ Thomas Merton

I loved to play Hide and Seek when I was little. I especially loved it on summer evenings when the backyard was full of lightning bugs. I would pretend they were tiny lamps, guiding me to secret hiding places.

As I grew up, I didn’t have lightning bugs to follow anymore. Instead, I depended on the thoughts and opinions of others to show me when it was time for the real me to go into hiding. Sometimes I would hide for a very long time.

Occasionally, I’d venture out with a real confession of sin or struggle. Most often, these vulnerable moments were greeted with sigh and a look of disappointment, accompanied by scriptural encouragement or constructive criticism that would send me back to a yet more deeply hidden place.

My heart longed for a hearty hug and an exclamation of: Oh, it’s the real you at last! I’m so glad you’ve come! That’s happened on occasion throughout the years. Those are the people I continue to know as dear friends today.

At the end of Hide and Seek, the one who’s it calls out: Olly, Olly Oxen Free! to indicate that anyone who’s still hiding can safely come out into the open.

There’s no place and no reason to hide once grace fills the yard. Every moment of everyday the Father (who is It) is calling: Olly, Olly Oxen Free! He’s always waiting with a hearty hug and the cherished words: It’s the real you at last! I’m so glad you’ve come!

~ rv – revised version of a previous post