Grace-Beggars

A few years ago I preached a sermon at Metro State Prison in Atlanta. Metro is a state penitentiary for women. I had been going to the prison once a week counseling with two women. One was a drug addict and the other was a murderer. I had heard the stories of some of the other women through my colleagues. After the sermon I helped serve Holy Communion. I would say the words that we have become familiar with as I gave the bread, “The body of Christ broken for you.” The first lady up was a lady who was a former prostitute who was addicted to crack cocaine. “The body of Christ broken for you,” I would say. Another lady had murdered her husband out of rage after years of abuse. “The body of Christ broken for you.” The lady behind her had sold her children in order to buy more drugs. “The body of Christ broken for you.” Some where down the line was a twenty year old who as a part of a gang initiation that had murdered a member of a rival gang. “The body of Christ broken for you.” Behind her was someone who was formerly part of a white supremacy group that had terrorized portions of the Southeast. “The body of Christ broken for you.” What better can the church offer such people other than grace?

Dr. Tom Long, homiletics professor tells a story: “A student of mine went jogging with his father in their urban neighborhood. As they ran, the son shared what he was learning in seminary about urban ministry, and the father, an inner city pastor, related experiences of his own. At the halfway point in their jog, they decided to phone ahead for a home delivered pizza. As they headed for the phone, however, a homeless man approached them, asking for spare change. The father reached into the pockets of his sweat pants and pulled out two handfuls of coins. ‘Here,’ he said to the homeless man. ‘Take what you need.”

The homeless man, hardly believing his good fortune, said, “I’ll take it all,” scooped the coins into his own hands, and went his way. It only took a second for the father to realize that he now had no change for the phone. ‘Pardon me,’ he beckoned to the homeless man. ‘I need to make a call. Can you spare some change?’ The homeless man turned and held out the two handfuls of coins. ‘Here,’ he said. ‘Take what you need.” We are all grace-beggars extending the grace of God to other vagabonds. Homeless without the grace of God. Hopeless without the grace of God.

Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me! I once was lost but now am found – Was blind, but now I see.

Graceful Ministry

Grace is realizing that God is for us. God is not some angry beast ready to devour us at every mistake. God is passionate for us. God is longing for us. God is calling us into a relationship. God wants us to experience his heart. Brennan Manning declares, “Jesus Christ did not come to make us nicer people with better morals. He came to transform people into better lovers. He came to make brand new people alive with the fire of God.” Only God loves us the way we long to be loved. Only Jesus can change our heart. Only the Spirit can fill our soul with joy and peace and love.
Grace is the favor shown by God to sinners. It is the divine goodwill offered to those who neither deserve nor ever can hope to earn it. Grace is the divine disposition to work in our hearts, wills, and actions, so as actively to communicate God’s self-giving love for humanity. As Paul says in Ephesians, “Even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ by grace you have been saved – and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:5ff).

God’s gracious presence in our lives assures us of forgiving love and empowers us for reconciliation in our brokenness. Everyone is broken. God’s power is never stronger than in our brokenness. The theology of the cross teaches us that God’s glory shines brightest when it shines through brokenness. The central focus of our faith is glory through brokenness – from the cross to the grave, from the grave to the sky. Henri Nouwen reminds us that, like the Christ we serve, we are all wounded healers. Ministry has taught me that we are called precisely through our brokenness. If we deny the brokenness then we also deny the possibility of God’s grace to meet us in our brokenness. As a minister of God I have been charged with the ministry of reconciliation. I am committed to helping people discover the source of their brokenness and the possibility of their reconciliation through the grace of God. Because I believe in God’s grace in the midst of brokenness, I will stand before the people, sit beside beds in ICU, and speak into the lives of people “the Body of Christ broken for you.”