Sermon: "Living with Grace"
The Right Reverend Charles G. vonRosenberg
Third Bishop of East Tennessee

[This sermon by Bishop vonRosenberg was delivered using the following notes.]

Many words basic to our Faith have become popular in everyday language. And because of their widespread usage, their Faith meanings have become confused … or, even, lost. It is important for us, therefore - as members of the community of Faith - to reclaim these significant words of our Christian heritage … and, especially, to recognize what those words mean to us.

One of the most obvious of these popular words is "love." Definitions from the culture indicate that love may mean some kind of sentimental emotion. However, in the Bible, "love" represents an act of the will. That is, to love a person is to will the best for him or her and, then, to follow that willing by action.

Another significant word in our Christian heritage that has suffered from popular use is "grace." God's grace is the subject of our collect today. And the meaning of grace is at the very heart of the Christian gospel. We prayed earlier this morning that God's grace "may always precede and follow us."

On the popular level, "grace" may mean several different things. For instance, we may use "grace" to describe how a person moves - that is, with grace. Or, we may indicate some action that was the appropriate one to take - thus, a person had the grace to do something. Finally, there also is a grace said before a meal - that is, a blessing or a thanksgiving.

Each of these examples indicates some popular use of the word "grace." But none of them really gets to the heart of grace as a part of our Christian Faith and vocabulary.

In order to understand the concept of Christian grace, I want to tell you a story this morning - and it may be that we all can remember some aspects of this story in our own experience. It seems that a boy named Johnny was visiting his grandparents one summer vacation. And while he was there, Johnny received his first sling shot as a present. He had great fun shooting that sling shot - but he had trouble with his aim. He never seemed to hit those things at which he shot.

One evening after a day in the woods, Johnny was returning to his grandparents' house. He saw his grandfather's pet duck far across the yard. Just for fun, Johnny picked up a rock and shot it toward the duck. You can imagine how horrified Johnny was when he actually hit his target for the first time … and the duck fell over, dead.

Well, Johnny was frightened and ashamed. At first, he did not see anyone looking at him. So, he lifted up the dead duck and hid it in the woodpile. However, when he turned around again to go inside, his sister Sally was staring his way. She had seen the whole episode. But she did not say anything, and they both went into the house.

After dinner, the grandmother said, "OK, Sally, let's clear the table and wash the dishes." But Sally responded, "Grandmother, Johnny said he wanted to help in the kitchen tonight." And, under her breath, she whispered to Johnny, "Remember the duck." So, Johnny did the dishes.

The next day, the grandfather asked the children to go fishing. However, grandmother said that Sally could not go because she was supposed to help clean the house. But Sally said, "Oh, Johnny wants to help you, don't you, Johnny?" And she whispered to her brother, "Remember the duck." So, Johnny cleaned the house, and Sally went fishing.

Similar episodes happened over and over again for the next several days. Johnny did all the chores, and Sally had all the fun. Finally, Johnny could not stand it any longer. He went to his grandparents and confessed everything.

And then, he was in for a surprise. They each gave him a big hug. And they said to him, "We know what happened Johnny. We watched everything through the window. We love you, and we have already forgiven you. The only questions were these: how long would you let Sally make a slave of you, and when would you finally ask for and receive our forgiveness?"

And, in that experience, Johnny received grace. He could not earn it - and that's the first important thing to know about grace. It cannot be earned. And, secondly, grace usually involves forgiveness.

Now, that is a simple little example. However, each of us probably could tell some more significant stories from our own lives. We know from experience that grace cannot be earned, and it certainly involves forgiveness.

Grace is not cheap. Johnny learned that the hard way as he agonized about the secret he shared with his sister and, then, as he confessed what he had done. Also, the young man who encountered Jesus in our Gospel reading today learned about costly grace. That is, he asked Jesus about receiving eternal life - the ultimate gift of grace. But something was blocking grace in that young man's life. For him, his possessions enslaved him and kept him from receiving the grace-filled gift of eternal life.

Now, in a similar way, those things that enslave us block the operation of Christian grace in our lives. Perhaps some habit enslaves us … or our possessions … or resentment toward someone … or guilt about something in the past. Those things enslave us, and they can keep grace from being operational in our lives. If such is the case for you, then you are not free to receive grace - and, you cannot know true forgiveness.

Grace - true Christian grace - sets us free from our slaveries. And grace offers us forgiveness. You see, Christian grace comes to us as a free gift. We cannot earn it, any more than Johnny could earn his grandparents' love and forgiveness. But they forgave him anyway - not because he deserved it, but because they loved him. And that's grace. It is free … and it usually comes to us in the form of forgiveness.

In conclusion, the greatest image for grace is Christ on the cross. That image indicates for us that somehow - mysteriously - Christ forgives our sins and the sins of the entire world. Christ on the cross indicates for us the free gift of God's grace. Think of that image - the Son of God, hanging on a cross, forgiving those who are killing him! That, my friends, is grace. And for that grace - which sets us free and offers us forgiveness - for that grace, we appropriately respond, "Thanks be to God!"

Copyright © 2006 The Episcopal Diocese of East Tennessee