From Our Pastor

“What’s So Scary about Grace?”    

 

I was changing channels on the TV when an advertisement caught my attention for upcoming shows in October, called by the ad, “the scariest month of the year”.  Of course that just has to do with Halloween and the annual preoccupation our culture has with pretending to be scared by witches, ghosts, and goblins.  Fear has become big business in the entertainment field. 

 

As a Lutheran pastor, however, looking ahead toward October my lenses are automatically focused on the Reformation.  The two days are the same date on purpose.  Luther chose All Saints (Hallows) Eve to drop kick the theological ball to Pope Leo with the posting of 95 Theses, outlining church abuses of Scripture and ecclesiastical authority.  He posted them on the church door knowing the citizens of Wittenberg would see them as they came to worship on All Saints Day, November 1.  So October for those who cherish the gift of the Reformation to the Church is about the love of God that casts out all fear.  Unfortunately, our culture gives scant attention to grace of God celebrated in the Reformation and more to the fear celebrated by Halloween. 

 

But, come to think of it, grace is scary.  Some people are downright frightened by it. Grace given through the atoning death and resurrection of Jesus Christ brings the power and love of God into the human heart and will.  But in doing so it strips the human heart of all pride in self.  We cannot cling to any accomplishment of our own as sufficient to satisfy God’s perfect standards. The cross is the only way to heaven but some are afraid to let go of their stubborn determination to earn their way.  They are afraid of grace because it seems too good to be true.

 

Grace can also be scary because it challenges us to a different life.  Before grace we felt justified in easing our past hurts with present sinful habits and hatred.  But grace calls for us to forgive as we have been forgiven. We can’t hold onto the hurts of the past.  Furthermore, grace gives us a new view of ourselves, as forgiven children of God, who can no longer rationalize sin.  Grace empowers us to say “no” to lustful passions that ensnare us. Grace radicalizes the life of the one who walks in it.  And that can be a scary direction for anyone used to justifying his or her behavior and attitudes, no matter how hurtful they have been. 

 

To walk in grace is new for many, and “new” can be scary.  It was for Luther, who even after discovering it, sometimes wondered if he had it right.

 

Yes, make October the scariest month of the year.  Embrace and walk out in radical, even scary, grace.  Let it transform your heart and change your direction.  Once you yield to it, not living under self-imposed rules or making demands of others, then your joy will be full.  Then you’ll discover there was nothing scary about grace after all.

 

In Christ’s love, and mine,

Pastor Tom