Grace is a beautiful sound. It’s bright, shiny note of hope pierces the dark, chaotic noise of our world. Like a siren, its call awakens our hearts, and we listen for more. It is not like the cacophony of voices that makes us anxious and weary. Its melodious rhythm brings order to our disjointed lives. Grace is not loud; it doesn’t need to be. Grace is gentle and tender, its tone harmonious and joyful. Its underlying tempo is the slow, steady beat of love, acceptance, forgiveness, and reconciliation. Those who listen will decipher that its beautiful tune becomes more like a voice. Grace speaks. It says, “I love you. You. Not for what you have done or haven’t done. Not for what you look like, what you make, what you’ve accomplished. Just You.” Grace is never abstract; it is always personal. Grace is not just the words spoken; grace is the One speaking, the face we long to see, the eyes that look deeply into our eyes. Grace is God holding your face with his hands and speaking hope into your soul. Grace is God face to face.
The surprising solvent of grace
Grace is crazy. Not crazy in the distorted, confusing, anarchic way of the world. Grace is crazy in the sense that it is unexpected and not logical. Grace breaks the equation. With grace, 1 + 1 doesn’t equal 2; it equals 4. In our world, we expect hate + hate= more hate. That is what we read on Twitter, see on FaceBook, and hear on Fox and CNN. Those who mess up are canceled, while the cancellers live in their own secret hypocrisy. But with the unexpected introduction of grace, the equation changes: hate + grace=change, reconciliation, more grace. Grace is the solvent that dissolves hate by disarming its insidious power, absorbing it with love. Hate is never overcome by more hate; fighting is never overcome by more fighting; evil is never overcome by more evil. Surprisingly, the only way to overcome hate is love. Love takes all the power out of hate. In his book, People of the Lie, Scott Peck quotes Gale Webbe in saying, “The only ultimate way to conquer evil is to let it be smothered by a willing, living human being. When it is absorbed like a spear into one’s own heart, it loses its power and goes no further.” Peck then adds, “The healing of evil can only be accomplished by love. The healer must allow his or her own soul to become the battlefield. Whenever this happens, there is a slight shift in the balance of power in the world.” Love is creative where hate is destructive; love changes the story and sets it in a new direction, whereas hate and evil repeat the same banal tale over and over. Love is more powerful than hate; love is the most potent force in the universe. God does not create evil; evil is the result of humans choosing something other than God, the source of life and love. But God has contained evil and he will ultimately judge it. But for now, he is transforming this world through his love.
America burns with hate instead of love
America today is torn and burning. Hate, outrage, and anger are becoming our universal language. There is no place for forgiveness, second chances, or understanding. We have truly become a “cancel culture.” We don’t have time for listening; our lust for power won’t let us. In so many ways, 2020 resembles the late 1960s, as the nation raged and cities blazed. At that time, the voice of a prophet provided an answer. In a letter to American churches, Martin Luther King, Jr. described grace and love as the only hope for our nation:
I think I have found the answer, America. I have discovered that the highest good is love. It is the great unifying force of life. God is love. He who loves has discovered the clue to the meaning of ultimate reality; he who hates stands in immediate candidacy for nonbeing.[The cross of Jesus] is the telescope through which we look into the long vista of eternity and see the love of God breaking into time. Out of the hugeness of his generosity God allowed his only-begotten Son to die that we may live. By uniting yourselves with Christ and your brothers through love you will be able to matriculate in the university of eternal life. In a world depending on force, coercive tyranny, and bloody violence, you are challenged to follow the way of love. You will then discover that unarmed love is the most powerful force in all the world.[1]
[1] Martin Luther King, Jr., Strength to Love (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1963), 144.