The first week of Sabbatical 2011, I will be spending time with my two best buddies from Fuller Seminary, Brian and Todd. Brian is a pastor at an Episcopal Church in Mt. Pleasant, SC near Charleston. Todd is a pastor at a Presbyterian Church in Seattle, WA on Queen Anne Hill. We have been through much together and talk weekly for accountability, support, laughs, and lots and lots of prayer. Our yearly times together are so rich and meaningful.
This year we will gather at a beach house in Folly Beach, SC. Our time will be spent checking in at the deepest of levels, surfing, fishing, sharing good meals (anyone know what "she-crab soup" is?), and reading 2 books. I'm currently making my way through them now.
The first is "Listening for the Heartbeat of God: a Celtic Spirituality" by Philip Newell. The second is called, "Life With God: Reading the Bible for Spiritual Transformation" by Richard Foster.
As I was reading the latter the other day, something caught my attention that was so helpful. As a church, Bidwell Presbyterian is known mostly for our focus and practice of God's grace. We love grace, don't we! We talk it. We live it. We relish in God's unmerited favor! Sometimes, though, I secretly wonder if we take it too far. When, if ever, are we responsible to apply our effort toward the spiritual life? If it's all about grace, what role do we play as Christians?
Foster addresses this beautifully in Life With God:
"It is vitally important for us to see all this spiritual training in the context of the work and action of God's grace. As the great Apostle reminds us, "it is God who is at work in you, enabling you both to will and to work for his good pleasure" (Phil. 2:13). This, you see, is no "works righteousness," as it is sometimes called. Even our desiring of this with-God kind of life is an action of grace; it is "prevenient grace," say the theologians. You see, we are not just saved by grace; we live by grace. And we pray by grace and fast by grace and study by grace and serve by grace and worship by grace. All the Disciplines are permeated by the enabling grace of God.
But do not misunderstand; there are things for us to do. Daily. Grace never means inaction or total passivity. In ordinary life we will encounter multiple moments of decision where we must engage the will saying, "Yes!" to God's will and to God's way as the People of God have been challenged throughout history. The opposite of grace is works, but not effort."
We are saved by God's grace. We live by God's grace. But we make effort in the spiritual life to grow in God's grace and to share God's grace with others. God is on the hook for salvation. We are on the hook to "work out" that salvation with "fear and trembling" (Phil.2:12).
May God's grace find you afresh today; and may your effort be to grow in that grace deeply today as well.
Peace!
