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By Allen McGraw, on January 20th, 2010
3. What is your understanding of humanity and the human need for divine grace?
One of the most troubling passages in the Bible for me comes from Romans 7 where Paul contrasts who he is with who he wants to be. He makes the very human statement that, “I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate” (v. 15). Maybe this is so troubling because it so encapsulates the human condition. We know what we should do, but we just can’t do it. We know what we shouldn’t do, but we just can’t help ourselves. It is the problem that has plagued humanity since the fall. Article VIII of the Articles of Religion states that this condition of humanity renders us unable to “turn and prepare [ourselves,] by [our] own natural strength and works, to faith, and calling upon God.” Left to our own devices we have neither the power nor the inclination to do good works acceptable to God. Without the intervention of God’s divine grace we would be hopelessly lost.
Wesley, of course, teaches that there are three types of grace; prevenient, justifying, and sanctifying. These are sometimes referred to as preparing, accepting, and sustaining grace. Prevenient grace, the grace that goes before, is that grace that is with us and acting in our lives even before we knew we needed it. From the moment we are created, we are recipients of God’s prevenient/preparing grace – calling us, wooing us, convincing us, preparing us to receive God’s free gift of salvation. It is that little bit of “something” that God places within each of us that allows us to accept God’s solution to the problem that plagues our existence – separation from God.
Our separation from God, caused by our own free choices, can only be healed by God’s justifying/accepting grace. Article IX of the Confession of Faith begins by stating, “We believe we are never accounted righteous before God through our works or merit, but that penitent sinners are justified or accounted righteous before God only by faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.” When we choose to experience God’s justifying grace, we are “born again” or “born from above” (John 3:3). Having been born from above, we are now able to participate in the abundant life that Christ offers.
Being a “new creature” in Christ does not end with justification, but is only the beginning of a life-long process of “going on to perfection.” This growing as Christians is a result of God’s sanctifying/sustaining grace shaping our lives, transforming us into the people that God would have us be. It is by God’s sanctifying grace that we are moved from lives bound by sin and death to lives lived in the light of Jesus Christ, constantly learning, continually growing, ever pressing toward the mark, and taking upon ourselves the very mind of Christ.
By Allen McGraw, on January 20th, 2010
2. What is your understanding of evil as it exists in the world?
One of the most difficult questions we face as humans deals with the existence of evil. The existence of evil, I think, is beyond question. Very few would argue in the face of the unspeakable suffering in the world that evil does not exist. We may argue about “why” evil exists or how to solve problems that result from evil, but I think we can be certain that evil exists. This creates a significant dilemma for those of us who would claim to speak for God. How do we explain evil in the world if God is good? Many would dismiss this question with a statement like, “You shouldn’t question God. That shows a lack of faith.” I would contend that a response like that shows a lack of understanding of the human condition. Evil results in and/or causes suffering; and suffering causes us to question God. It is our responsibility as Christian ministers to help those who suffer because of evil to frame their questions in ways that can bring them to a deeper understanding of who God is and who God wants us to be, admitting that we sometimes struggle to find answers to those same questions.
Article VII of the Confession of Faith begins – “We believe [humanity] is fallen from righteousness and, apart from the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, is destitute of holiness and inclined to evil.” We proclaim that, because of our own free-will choices, evil is part and parcel of the human condition. One cannot be immune from evil and still be human. It is within God’s redemptive plan that we suffer because of evil and are brought, sometimes weeping, to the conclusion that God alone has the remedy to the problem of evil in our world.
I wish that I had better answers to this question, but it is my experience that any answer we offer falls far short when faced with the practical implications of this question. What do you say to a grieving widow or a child who has just lost their mother? There are no answers that suffice. Maybe the simplest answer holds the most truth. How can we possibly know what “good” is if we have not experienced evil? How can we appreciate light without darkness? How can we yearn for peace without having witnessed the ravages of war? Of course this does little to comfort the victims of evil, which we all are. Maybe what is important is that we learn to journey with each other through the “valley of the shadow of death”, weep with one another, comfort one another, and rejoice together as God’s peace vanquishes our fears.
By Allen McGraw, on January 19th, 2010
I am currently completing the requirements for provisional membership in the UMC. Provisional membership is the next step in the process towards being ordained as an Elder. Part of the requirements include answering sixteen question from the Book of Discipline. I’ll begin posting the questions and answers (in no particular order) here as I complete them. Feel free to comment and tell me where you think I get it right or wrong.
By Allen McGraw, on January 13th, 2010
I just finished watching the video, Spiritual Awakening, a New Economy and the End of Empire, a lecture by David C. Korten, and my first thought is, “Wow!” And my second thought is, “Why am I am almost forty years old and just now hearing someone say these kinds of things?” But then I realize that if Korten is right, and I think he is, then Jesus said these kinds of things a long time ago, and other prophets even before that, but we just haven’t been listening.
Korten goes so far as to call the economic systems in place today “evil.” If he is right, and again, I think he is, then this has serious implications for the church. Because, now we are not just talking about how best to help people, but whether or not we are complicit in this perpetration of evil by our very participation in a system which seeks to usurp God’s created order. Korten brings this into stark clarity when he invokes the metaphor of “serving two masters.” I love the way he defines “mammon” – “wealth as an object of worship; the worship of a false god; a form of demonic possession; an evil force in opposition to the God of Life.”(italics mine) That statement alone calls for a radical reaction to the current economic powers. We cannot just try to do our best to not let “the love of money” exercise an unhealthy influence in our lives, but we must actively oppose this evil force. Any system that allows an individual to exercise authority over another for the sake of selfish personal gain has no place in God’s economy. I am more sure of this than ever, but I am still not convinced that I have the courage to pay the price necessary to follow where this ultimately leads.
I still have many more questions than answers, but the journey is becoming much more exciting. If this doesn’t stir some discussion, I don’t know what will.
By Allen McGraw, on January 1st, 2010
Happy New Year everyone!
I can’t help but wonder what this year will bring. Lord willing, I’ll finish seminary, be commissioned as a provisional elder in the Mississippi Conference of the UMC, turn forty, and who knows what else. It should be an exciting year, but it could also be a challenging one. The conference says we are moving, but the folks at Courtland say “no way!” Either way there will be changes. I’ll no longer have to split my time between pastor and student, but will finally be able to devote myself fully to the task of ministry in the community. Either way, whether here or somewhere else, it will be a new experience. Life without the driving influence of a seminary schedule will take some getting used to .
So what about resolutions? I’ve never been much on New Year resolutions, but I have made a few this year. Along with some personal commitments, I’ve also decided that it would be a good thing to focus some attention on my blog, Methodist Corner. Along with a new look, I hope to make weekly entries. Maybe I’ll be able to do more, but it’s always good to keep expectations reasonable. It’s easier to keep our resolutions if we don’t set the bar impossibly high. In the past I’ve done good if I made monthly entries and often wondered if my blog wasn’t just taking up cyber-space. We’ll see how it goes.
On this New Year’s Day, I pray with the Apostle Paul… “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, until, by the power of the Holy Spirit, you overflow with hope” (Rom 15:13).
By Allen McGraw, on October 7th, 2009
Psa 139:7-17 Where can I go from your spirit? Or where can I flee from your presence? (8) If I ascend to heaven, you are there; if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there. (9) If I take the wings of the morning and settle at the farthest limits of the sea, (10) even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me fast. (11) If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light around me become night,” (12) even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is as bright as the day, for darkness is as light to you. (13) For it was you who formed my inward parts; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. (14) I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; that I know very well. (15) My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. (16) Your eyes beheld my unformed substance. In your book were written all the days that were formed for me, when none of them as yet existed. (17) How weighty to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them!
The psalmist has reached a place in life where, at least to the psalmist’s understanding, the Spirit of God surrounds us all, and even before we are known by anyone else, the psalmist is sure that God knows us, and cares for us. But was the psalmist always so sure? Maybe, there was a time, when the psalmist felt like a blade of grass.
I wonder what a blade of grass feels. Not, “feels like”, that would be easy. We could go outside, kneel upon the lawn, and gently glide our hand across the top of the grass, already turning brown as winter’s cold approaches, and let each tiny blade tickle our open palm. Or we could really get serious about this and press our fingers deep between the blades until our fingertips press into the gritty earth beneath. But, that’s really not what I’m talking about. I’m really wondering what a blade of grass feels. And not just any blade of grass, I’m talking about a very particular blade of grass. One in a billion, or a trillion, but one nevertheless, just one.
This blade of grass which has captured my thoughts – let’s give it a name – if we’re going to get to know this blade of grass, we can’t just call it “blade of grass” – let’s call it Sid. That has a nice organic sound to it. Well, this particular blade of grass – um Sid – has seen his better days. You see, I’m remembering July in Batesville Mississippi, and it’s hot. Several weeks before, things were going well. Sid was full of life and the color of spring, but on this day, as I remember standing at my kitchen sink and staring out the window, at the lawn losing its color, Sid stands as one among many – dry and brittle and very far from green. So I stood there, wondering what this blade of grass – Sid – must be feeling. What do you think? Does he know that it’s July and he still has August to go. I wonder, as he looks skyward, and feels the heat of the day, scorching the life from him – does he know that it’s rain that he needs?
Or does he just feel an ache, a longing, for something, to fill him with life again. As I stood at my kitchen window, one hot summer afternoon, and pondered this deep existential question, I was interrupted by a tug at my elbow. “Daddy, will you fix me a drink?” my seven year old son asked. He didn’t notice the tears in my eyes as I handed him a glass of ice water. He turned and hurried away, anxious to continue…whatever. You see, I remembered a time, when he didn’t know how to ask for a drink. He probably didn’t know what a drink was – like a little blade of grass. He just felt this gnawing in his stomach, this ache in his tummy, and he cried. My wife would go to him, even in the dark of night, no matter when, no matter what, and take him in her loving arms, console him, and provide for him.
God, like a mother, comes to us even when all we know is that something is missing, something is wrong, something is making our tummy ache, and we cry. God takes us in arms of love and fills our emptiness.
Continue reading Prevenient Grace and Sid
By Allen McGraw, on September 21st, 2009
In my last blog post I discussed the conversation going on at United Methodeviations which started with the authors post titled Caught on the Ethical Horns of A Moral Dilemma. Well, it seems that this question about “truthfulness” has generated a bit of controversy. Dan has offered a follow up post, titled Lying for the Greater Good, which includes a couple of scenarios that his readers suggested would be occasions when lying would be acceptable. I’m still with Dan, I don’t think it is ever acceptable to lie. Maybe I’m missing something, I don’t even see why this is a question. Is this just another step in the evolution of our permissive culture? Is it now okay for pastors to lie under the guise of doing what is best? The argument is that we should evaluate the greater good and the ends justifies the means. But isn’t truthfulness an end in itself? In other words we, as the people of God, strive to be a truthful people because God is truth. This isn’t a question of doing what is best based on our analysis of a situation. This is about being what God has called us to be. Let me know what you think.
By Allen McGraw, on September 18th, 2009
In a recent blog post at United Methodeviations titled Caught on the Ethical Horns of A Moral Dilemma, Dan Dick discusses the willingness of pastors to lie if they think it is necessary. In the article he tells about a recent seminar he attended where the question was raised, “When is it necessary for pastors to lie to people?” I agree with his response — “Never.” He was troubled by the reaction of his colleagues who then attempted to justify their untruthfulness. I am more than just troubled, I am appalled! Especially after reading some of the comments that followed the article.
I added my own comment. It’s reprinted below. What do you think? Did I get it wrong? Come on, tell me the truth.
If this is what “the church” of today has come to, then I want no part of it. Is there ANY situation in which you can imagine Jesus lying, stretching the truth, not telling the whole truth, or anything else you want to call it? If a person can’t find a way to communicate without telling a lie, then maybe they are talking too much. Maybe there are situations when a thoughtful response is necessary, but I can’t think of a situation where lying has made the situation anything but worse. If we can’t get this one right, we are in serious trouble. How are we ever going to get a skeptical unbeliever to believe we love them if they can’t even trust us? We may not be perfect, but we can be truthful. If you can’t, dont’ say anything at all.
In the interest of civility, and since it wasn’t my blog, I said “don’t say anything at all,” but what I really wanted to say was “keep your mouth shut.” Maybe I’m overreacting, but I say, if we can’t be anything else, we can at least be truthful.
By Allen McGraw, on September 5th, 2009
Well, classes have started for the Fall semester at MTS and I am beginning to see some light at the end of the tunnel. I hope to graduate in May; only two more semesters left. It’s been a long journey which started a little over three years ago. There have been great classes and lousy classes, wonderful professors and not so wonderful, but all in all it has been a good experience and I have learned a lot. Now if I can just stay focused for the home stretch…stay tuned…
By Allen McGraw, on September 2nd, 2009
If you are a subscriber to the MethodistCorner blog (if you received this by email you’re a subscriber) you will no longer receive updates by email. If you want to continue to follow the posts, visit my Follow Me Page and choose an option. If you would like to continue receiving emails when new articles are posted instead of using one of the social networking services just send me an email and let me know. Blessings, Allen.
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