EMBRACE GRACE

I believe in grace. I learned about grace through the School of Hard Knocks. Religious fundamentalists have misused the term "grace," and "salvation by grace." In the wrong hands of the modern-day Pharisees, even the term grace is distorted into an emphasis on human worthlessness and shame. Hyper-Calvinistic hellfire preachers teach that grace is only given to an elect few. Grace truly is amazing, and it's more than a word in a famous hymn, or a religious catch-phrase. It transforms how we view God, salvation, ourselves, each other, and the world at large. Grace is the only answer that works and offers a healing remedy to the wounds inflicted on us by rigid religion. Grace, ("Karis" in the original New Testament Greek), means "unmerited favor." We named our daughter Karis. It is the idea that we all receive salvation freely. When Jesus died on the cross, He prayed even for the people killing Him, "Father forgive them." Jesus forgives all of them. Without their asking for it. Before they knew it. It is finished. Done. Paid for. Salvation is a gift. Not because we earn it. Not because of what we do or don't do. Not because we pass a religious test or say the right words. It's a gift of eternal grace because God loves us. This is the good news.