Grace Really IS Amazing (part 1 of 4 in the Flat Wesley series)
Ephesians 2: 1 - 10
For the next four weeks, we’ll be exploring some key ideas at the heart of John and Charles Wesley’s faith and lifetime work. And it is important because it situates our church, Faith, in a wider stream of churches – it helps us name what is unique, what is true, what is good about our tradition that shapes us so that we carry these key ideas with us into the world each day.
For some folks, this idea that there is something really unique about Faith as part of Methodism is new. For others it may be quite familiar to you – a refresher from your confirmation, perhaps.
John and Charles Wesley weren’t setting out to start a new denomination when they were young men. They were dedicated Anglicans seeking a reform movement within the Anglican church – the church of England. They were hungry for faith in God that shaped people’s whole lives, faith that was lived out 24/7 and not just in worship on Sunday. They were hungry for faith that wasn’t just for show. They were hungry for a faith that reached those on the margins – in their day as the economic shifts of industrialization and urbanization were taking shape in England, those on the margins would include miners, field workers, factory workers and domestic workers.
Just to get a sense of how big their influence has been and continues to be, let’s take a little poll.
Who likes ice cream? What kinds of ice cream do you like?
There are lots of flavors of ice cream. Similarly there are lots of kinds of denominations – each one a little bit different. But if denominations are like different flavors of ice cream, John and Charles weren’t just inventing a new flavor – they were doing something like creating the underpinning for all of the chocolate flavors – chocolate mint, rocky road, turtle swirl, moose track, chocolate mocha chip…you get the idea. The Wesley’s key ideas underpin denominations like the Church of the Nazarene and the Salvation Army…not just folks with the word “Methodist” in the name.
So for the next four Sundays, we’re going to learn about some specific understandings of God and faith that John or Charles held that became a vital underpinning for many folks who value Wesleyan tradition, some even beyond Methodism.
Today, let’s talk about grace. And in good vacation bible school fashion, we’re going to start with a memory verse from the letter to the Ephesians (2:8) which you heard:
“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God…”
(Work on it as a group for a bit)
Now, grace can be one of those church words that we toss around a lot, sing about, claim as amazing.
John Wesley believed that grace was an undeserved gift of God that surrounds everyone, rooted in God’s profound love for God’s own creation.
But grace isn’t just a big churchy idea that we point to or read or write about. When we understand grace, particularly as John Wesley understood it – God’s love that surrounds us and embraces us - grace becomes the water we swim in, the water that shapes us and strengthens us, and the cool water we offer as refreshment and sustenance to those we meet on our life journey.
Now, it is true that something can be all around us and we can be unaware or unwilling to receive it.
But when we actively receive God’s gift of grace, when we say – wow I am so far from perfect, I mess up, and I know God loves me anyway – we might be moved and able to live a changed life. We may respond with our own love for God, love that moves us closer to God and closer to something John Wesley called “Christian perfection.” (More about Christian perfection in a few weeks!)
John Wesley broke the idea of grace down in three phases, if you will.
First, prevenient grace is the grace of God that goes before us – before our recognition of our need for that grace, and especially before our recognition of its presence available to us. John Wesley described prevenient grace as that borne of God’s love and commitment, without prejudice, for all of creation.
“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God…”
Known by God in all we are and all we do, fearfully and wonderfully made as described in Psalm 139, we are always surrounded by God’s unconditional love and grace.
Practically speaking, it is this understanding of the grace underpins our practice of infant baptism in Methodism. Because God’s love and grace surround each of us before we even know we are in need of it, we claim this grace on behalf of the very youngest children. We as a community commit to walk with children while they grow to discover their need for God’s grace.
There comes a moment (and even moments) in our lives when we open our hands and actively reach for that grace that has always been present with us. John Wesley understood this second phase as justifying grace. This is the moment or moments in which we are reborn –“born of the Spirit” (John 3:8).[1]
Because there is something going on in our lives to create our awareness of a need for God, we accept what God is doing for us, and make the choice to be with God. In that choice, we receive power that helps us to focus on what is good and true to God. We are strengthened by justifying grace to resist sin and to seek what is pleasing to God. We don’t have to do good things to get God’s love, but once we realize how much God loves us, justifying grace causes us to make good choices, do good works, serve others and to share God’s grace.
Once we have reached out to claim the power and strength of God’s grace in our own lives, we are surrounded by what John Wesley called sanctifying grace. Sanctifying grace is the work of God in us through the Holy Spirit, helping us to become the very creation God intended, bringing about growth and change, perfecting us to God’s design and intention for the kingdom of God.[2]
“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God…”
…all of these words about grace matter very little if we aren’t aware of how it is working around us, in us and through us all the time. And living life in response to what we become aware of.
John Wesley believed that we could intentionally access grace through acts of mercy and compassion – those times we serve with and place ourselves in relationship with others in need of love and care – and through acts of piety – worship, prayer, reading scripture, participating in communion. And he believed we should seek to participate in these “means of grace” as often as we could – not because we wanted to be more holy but because it was a way of loving God.
It was this understanding of grace that infused John and Charles Wesley’s desire to organize communities into small groups to learn and pray and worship and serve together. It was this understanding of grace that underpinned John Wesley’s belief that we should receive communion as often as possible. (Did you know that? It wasn’t John’s idea that folks should receive communion on the first Sunday of the month…)
I wonder…where else do you see this concept of grace expressing itself in our community?
In our shared work?
In our vision for the future?
“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God…”
“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God…”
If you had to define grace in your own words, how would you do that?
Turn to your neighbor - here on the parking lot or at home - and describe grace as you understand it to one another.
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