Grace finds goodness in everything (Bono – U2)
Grace is probably my favourite religious word. If there’s anything that the world needs more of, it’s grace. It can be difficult to be gracious and very easy to hold a grudge, and I think that sometimes we focus too much on the ugliness around us and forget to focus on beauty. In fact, sometimes we imagine we see sin, when in fact there is love and beauty.
My least favourite religious word is probably “sin”, which is ironic, because there are a great number of people who believe that the Church is obsessed by sin, and sometimes, they’re right. Occasionally Christians can give the impression that God works as some sort of cosmic administrator ticking off a list of sins on a massive checklist.
So, what is grace, and what is sin?
I’ve heard it said that grace is “the thing that pulls you through the darkness to the other side.” Grace is the thing that you need most when you’re feeling ugly or unforgivable. Grace be a cup of tea. Grace can be a quiet word or something best left unsaid. Grace can be a massive hug, or a respectful distance. Grace is Jesus with his arms outstretched on a cross, as if to say, “I love you this much”. Grace can be any number of things, but it is always rooted in love.
What is sin? Before Jesus came along people followed a list of laws, rules and commandments which instructed them on what God considered sinful, perhaps they imagined God had a massive checklist. However, Jesus said that the law hung on two simple principles “to love God and to love one’s neighbour as oneself”. In doing this Jesus effectively tore up that checklist; sin is simply anything which doesn’t look like love.
Love and grace remain the same, but it’s not always easy to categorise sin. Here’s an example: for many years the Church refused to marry divorced people because Jesus implied that divorce was sinful. However, if we look at the time and place in which Jesus lived, we discover that divorced women were effectively left in the gutter, they had nothing left and no-one to help them. Obviously, this does not look like love. Divorce was a sin because it was destructive of the woman’s well-being; Jesus was being both loving and gracious. Today however, in our culture, divorce can look like love, especially if there’s been a history of mistreatment or unhappiness. In our case, we are right to say that divorce isn’t sin, because if we know someone trapped in a bad marriage, the loving and gracious thing for us to do is to affirm the decision to divorce and help them to enter new, healthy and loving relationships. This is a relief for me, because I not only conduct weddings for divorcees, but I’m also married to a divorcee!
Because of the spirit of love and grace, God accepts us. There is no need for us to feel guilty, or unclean, or unloved, nor is it up to us to carry a new checklist, either for ourselves or for others. Sin is not necessarily cast in stone, but we can see what doesn’t look like love. And when we do need forgiveness, “grace finds goodness in everything”.
If you’d like to hear the song “Grace” by U2, visit:
Revd Dean Akrill
