faith forum

Is God’s grace available to everyone?

If we believe, we receive free gift

The Rev. Paul Gray, senior pastor, Heartland Community Church, 619 Vt.:

Absolutely.

But what is “grace,” and how do you get it?

I like to explain grace by using the acrostic “God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense.” The “GR” in grace, therefore, is everything God has to offer us: complete and equal inclusion in his family without regard to race, national origin, economic status, gender or age; a personal relationship with him; forgiveness for the ways we have rejected and rebelled against him; the ability to change from destructive character traits to constructive ones; spiritual gifts that enable us to flourish as we serve others; a guarantee that we will spend eternity with him in a perfect place where there’s no evil, no sadness and no illness.

Those are indeed God’s Riches, and they are available to everyone.

The last three letters of grace — “At Christ’s Expense” — indicate how we get grace.

God’s riches can not be earned by anyone. No amount of good works, pedigree, church attendance or spirituality can gain a person God’s riches. But God has provided a way for us to get his grace. That one way is through personally accepting the grace that Jesus Christ makes available through the expense he paid on the cross.

We cannot do anything to earn that grace — we only receive it by faith. God only stipulates that we believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God and that we personally receive his free gift of grace.

Jesus himself states, “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

That is truly good news that is available to everyone.

– Send e-mail to the Rev. Paul Gray at hartland@sunflower.com.


The Rev. Peter Luckey, senior pastor, Plymouth Congregational Church, 925 Vt.:

Grace will never let us down

God’s grace is available to everyone.

Everyone.

It does not matter who you are, what you earn, what you have done. There is a voice that speaks to our deepest heart. The voice says, “You are my beloved. You are accepted.”

This is a radical thought, deeply exhilarating — and maddening, too.

The radical nature of God’s grace is beautifully expressed in the Gospel story of the prodigal son. Depending upon where you are in your life, the story either brings comfort or rage.

A father has two sons. The younger demands his inheritance. He leaves home and squanders his loot in loose living.

Destitute, the wayward son comes crawling home. “I am no longer worthy to be called your son,” he says to his father.

Even before the words are out of this rascal’s mouth, the father runs and embraces him, kisses him, puts a robe on his shoulders, a ring on his finger and throws him the party of his life.

If you ever in your life were in the same shoes as the younger son, this is the best news ever. If, on the other hand, you identify with the older son, who dutifully stays home working all these years, the news is infuriating.

It is offensive to us to think that God’s grace is equally available to murders and thieves and swindlers as ourselves. But this is the nature of God’s radical love.

The puzzle is, “If all are welcome at God’s party, why don’t we all come?”

Truthfully, to fully accept God’s acceptance of us is never an easy road. In fact, it is the hardest thing to do, to live our lives believing we are God’s beloved.

Hence, we resist grace every way we can. We are free to turn away from grace. However, grace will never turn away from us.

– Send e-mail to the Rev. Peter Luckey at peterluckey@sunflower.com.