Sometimes it feels like hate wins. Sometimes it feels like bullies beat down all signs of innocence. Sometimes forgiveness gets lost. Sometimes it feels like fear takes over. 

Each time we turn on the TV, listen to the radio, or read the newspaper our world is discussing divisions, scores, and lines that have been drawn in the sand. Why is it that hurting others is winning?  Why do hate and violence seem to be the answer? 

I am not suggesting that one side or the other is right or wrong in any one event, but the tenor of conversation has strayed, resulting in violence, hate, worry, rage and even fear like the crowds during Holy Week.

The community was wondering who was right—the Pharisees, whom they knew and trusted, or Jesus? They had to take sides between Barabbas, who was a known criminal but something they understood, versus Jesus, who described a world that was beyond their understanding of grace and truth. 

The crowds had to choose between something known and something unknown.  And whenever we are faced with decisions that are filled with unknowns, the feeling of fear wells up.

All of us, in every time and place, feel fear. Brene Brown, a leading psychologist, says that we all feel fear and want to know who to blame for it—so we seek out answers. We are afraid of world wars, so we find a place or person to blame. We are afraid of politics, so we find someone to blame. We are afraid of what might happen with our health, so we find blame. We are afraid of the future, so we find blame. Fear is expressed in many different ways—jealousy, anxiety, eating too much chocolate, anger or stress. Fear drives many decisions, often not in the right direction, which is why we end up with violence, hate, war, rage, prejudice, and even Jesus’ death on the cross.

But fear doesn’t have to own us. Instead, Jesus’ grace can. Grace is a new way of living. It means being brave in the midst of seasons in our lives when we are afraid, trusting when we are unsure how we got to this place or what will come next, loving others even when we don’t always understand.

As we approach Holy Week, where can grace show up in your life? Hate never wins, God’s forgiveness is never lost and grace is the only thing that takes over. Let Jesus’ grace pour upon you so that you might see God’s grace no matter what it is happening in your life today. 

Over the summer months the staff of PPC studied the book of Galatians. Throughout our studies, several themes continued to percolate in my mind, but the overarching idea from Galatians simply can’t be overstated. Paul reminds the church of Galatia that faith in the law (i.e. man) rather than faith in the Lord will essentially get their church nowhere.

I think many people fight the internal battle that Paul targets. We all strive to achieve and work and, perhaps, even behave as defined by “the law”. The law in this context describes the parameters defined by man, not necessarily through God. We struggle, much of the time, to differentiate between our law and God’s law. In fact, this struggle has been among the top news stories in the last few weeks. Our confusion leads us to the lowest common denominator, the law in the physical realm that entices us with a sense of structure and sensibility while cannibalizing our faith in Christ. We spend all our time arguing about the law and forget about the grace.

One of the notes I wrote in my journal as we read Galatians is: “grace is not a passive thing…it takes work.” This is a challenging thought. Grace is freely offered to us all through Jesus Christ. Why would it take work? Galatians 5:1 states that, “Christ has set us free.  Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.” I see this as Paul telling us that once we accept Christ, we are charged to live more like Him. We are not satisfied by human law alone, but submit to a higher power. Paul continues in verses 4-5, “You who want to be justified by the law have cut yourselves off from Christ; you have fallen away from grace. For through the Spirit, by faith, we eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness.” Living like Christ, now that takes work!

Grace is not a passive thing. I think this was my reminder that we need to routinely and continually rededicate our lives to Godliness instead of worldliness. I do not see grace as some exhausting marathon. It is, however, easily kicked to the side because of our addictions to the law of man. As I have found myself in conversations, some heated, about recent current events, I have not pressed the pause button to put grace back in the front of my mind. Instead, like so many of us, I got tangled up in the semantics and interpretation  of the human law. I forget sometimes that I don’t have the authority to judge man…that job is already taken by someone who is qualified for the task. My job is to shine like a light, to share God’s grace, and to live my own life in a way that inspires others to seek more of Jesus. And wouldn’t the world be a much better place if we all sought that level of grace and righteousness!

Have you ever told someone the story of yourself?  Mine might begin something like, "Once upon a time, there was a little red-headed girl named Kelsy. She loved learning and being with her family, but her favorite thing to do was help her grandma bake her famous cinnamon rolls." The story might tell of my favorite Raggedy Ann and Andy dolls that my grandma made for me, a pivotal high school class, choosing a college, becoming a pastor and so much more. In between the highs of my life, there would also be stories I might want to hide or pretend didn't exist, like mistakes made, challenges worked through and tears that were shed. 

I wonder if these are the things that someone else might tell about me. Would my story be unknown? Would it tell of my achievements and failures? Or would it tell a different story of God's justice being lived out and a God who loves us enough to lead us through the dark valleys to the place we can rest in His presence.  

The truth is that no matter what we or others say about our story, God’s story of us is filled with his unending love and grace bigger than any mistake or sin we make. The Holy Spirit is moving in and around us and we have the freedom to be called into his constant presence every single day.

Whatever your story includes, know that God's story of your life is beautiful, good and filled with hope. May we all live into that story. 

Why is it that hate and violence have become ordinary occurrences in our world? Most recently it is the nine lives that were taken at the Emmanuel AME Church last week.

For some reason this church shooting has affected me to my very core. I feel sorrow and sadness for the victims that had so much more of life to share. Anger that someone would chose to violate a sacred space that is known for grace, hope and love. And awe for the forgiveness that has been shown to the 21-year-old, who has said he shot the black worshippers in hopes of sparking a race war.

What is so powerful is the way the church members responded. In the moments when their sacred space had been violated in the midst of prayer they responded with grace and truth—not anger or hate. They continued to turn to Jesus for answers. 

We could go on and on about how we respond to the hate crimes and racism that have hurt others. We could talk about Jesus’ response to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us. We could stand up for justice and campaign for equality. Or we could stand for what has been lost—a life of true discipleship. 

I have realized in this past week, that this massacre is not just something to be sad about, but something that requires action by all Christians. The members of Emmanuel AME Church have responded with love, worship, prayer and yes, forgiveness.

I have been reading Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s book The Cost of Discipleship where he eloquently describes the dichotomy of cheap grace versus costly grace. Cheap grace is the grace we give ourselves. We put on blinders to ignore injustice, we proclaim forgiveness, but don’t live it and we become Sunday Christians instead of everyday followers of Christ. Costly grace on the other hand calls for complete change. To forgive and really mean it, to love even when we don’t want to, to work together in the midst of disunity and to trust in the grace of Jesus Christ to guide us each and every day.

We have a choice, as followers of Jesus, to see this event among others and simply be saddened… or we can respond as disciples in our very own community by loving, showing grace and providing hope in Christ. Our world needs costly grace. It needs Jesus. How will we respond?

1 Lord, who may dwell in your sacred tent?

    Who may live on your holy mountain?

2 The one whose walk is blameless,

    who does what is righteous,

    who speaks the truth from their heart;

3 whose tongue utters no slander,

    who does no wrong to a neighbor,

    and casts no slur on others;

When I served as pastor of Westminster Presbyterian Church in Portland our Clerk of Session was Vittz James Ramsdell. Vittz was a good Clerk, a good church man, and good Christian. Vittz owned Roberts Motors Company, which sold and serviced Kenworth Trucks. Roberts Motors had well over 100 employees in those days. One of those employees was convicted of a crime and sentenced to four years in the Oregon State Prison. Three months before he was to be released, Vittz drove down to the prison and met with the man. He asked him if he would like to have his old job back. You can imagine the man’s surprise at this visit and this offer. On the day before the man was to return to work, Vittz called a meeting of all his employees. He said, ‘As you know, Jack has been in prison for the past four years. He is being released today and will return to work here tomorrow. He has paid his debt to society. I never expect this subject to come up again at Roberts Motors. You are all dismissed’.