{"id":6608,"date":"2010-08-10T00:07:03","date_gmt":"2010-08-10T00:07:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/jesuscreed\/2010\/08\/miracles-of-morphing-4.html"},"modified":"2010-08-10T00:07:03","modified_gmt":"2010-08-10T00:07:03","slug":"miracles-of-morphing-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesuscreed\/2010\/08\/miracles-of-morphing-4.html","title":{"rendered":"Miracles of Morphing 4"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n\"Morphimage.jpg\"<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Golgotha morphs into grace<\/span><\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

            The
\nsimplest message then of the kingdom dream of Jesus is that Golgotha morphed
\ninto Grace. What was experienced as hideous injustice morphed into glorious
\njustice. Some think they can explain just how everything works and they can
\nkeep on trying and I’ll keep on listening. But so far all I can say is that
\nsomehow and someway that cross mysteriously morphs into grace. Somehow person
\nafter person looks to the cross and finds forgiveness and cleansing and a sense
\nthat they are good terms with God. Somehow person after person keeps attending
\nto the communion table, eating a little morsel of bread and drinking a smidgeon
\nof grape juice or wine and the grape itself morphs into grace.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

            When
\nI was in Sunday School class as a kid one of my teachers taught me that grace
\nmeant “G<\/b>od’s r<\/b>iches a<\/b>t C<\/b>hrist’s e<\/b>xpense.” Acronyms like this are
\nalways fun and they’re easy to remember but they rarely tell the whole story.
\nGrace is the word that tells the whole story for the earliest Christians. It is
\nthe story of humans who act unjustly toward God and toward themselves and
\ntoward one another and toward the world God has made. That injustice deserves
\ndeath. But the story goes on: it is the story of God acting for<\/i> humans even when they don’t
\ndeserve it. And it is the story preeminently of Jesus Christ, who died our
\ndeath and who was raised for our resurrection. Grace then is code word for
\n“what God does for us in Jesus Christ to make us his people and to restore
\nus to a life of love, justice, and peace.” In other words, it is the story
\nof the GodLife and of the kingdom dream. Tom Wright gets grace exactly right
\nwhen he says grace “is the entire story of God’s love, active in Christ
\nand the Spirit to do for humans what they could never do for themselves.”<\/a>[i]<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

            Everyone
\nraises a hand when asked about the meaning of
\n“grace.”  Kathleen Norris thinks of the arch-schemer of the
\nBible, Jacob, and then sees God’s grace because God “looked right through
\nthe tough little schemer and saw something good.” She continues: “Peter
\ndenied Jesus, and Saul persecuted the early Christians, but God could see the
\napostles they would become.” Grace, she says, is about “the faith God
\nhas in us.”<\/span><\/span>[ii]<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a> Frederick Buechner knows grace makes no sense until we see it
\nas a gift<\/i>. Here’s how he puts
\nit: “There’s nothing you<\/i> have
\nto do. There’s nothing you have<\/i> to
\ndo. There’s nothing you have to do<\/i>.”<\/span><\/span>[iii]<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a> Anne Lamott says much the same: “Grace is not something
\nI DO, or can chase down; but it is something I can receive, when I stop trying
\nto be in charge.”<\/span><\/span>[iv]<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span> Grace
\nis God’s good gifts to us, regardless of who we are, regardless of what we’ve
\ndone. Those good gifts from God are given to make us become what God wants us
\nto become. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

This is what I like so much about the apostle Paul: he saw
\neverything important in life nestled into the bed of God’s grace. When people
\nfind God, it is grace; when a young woman finds a voice in the community, it is
\ngrace; when people find a mission in life, it is grace. In fact, the gospel
\nitself is grace and grace is the gospel. Since grace encompasses everything, or
\nwe are encompassed completely by grace, this chapter could go on and on, but
\nI’d like to mention three elements of grace that give grace legs because
\ngrace makes things happen. <\/i>Grace
\nis active<\/i>.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Golgotha morphs into grace               The simplest message then of the kingdom dream of Jesus is that Golgotha morphed into Grace. What was experienced as hideous injustice morphed into glorious justice. Some think they can explain just how everything works and they can keep on trying and I’ll keep on listening. But so far all…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":70,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6608","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-gospel"],"yoast_head":"\nMiracles of Morphing 4 - Jesus Creed<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesuscreed\/2010\/08\/miracles-of-morphing-4.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Miracles of Morphing 4 - Jesus Creed\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Golgotha morphs into grace               The simplest message then of the kingdom dream of Jesus is that Golgotha morphed into Grace. 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