I knew this would happen. Yesterday, I started talking about Grace, but its such a big, important subject, that now, I can't stop thinking about things to say about it, so I'm back on the topic today.
You see, the problem with Grace, is that we don't deserve it. Yes, I know, thats kind of the whole point, but I think our society is so caught up on the idea of Karma, that we get what we deserve, that "what goes around, comes around", we're just not conditioned to accept the idea of something being completely free, of an unearned, undeserved gift. So I guess its not really a problem with Grace, but a problem with us, and our society.
We see it clearly every year at Queens Road, because once a year (this year its Saturday the 17th December) we go into the City Centre and sit around in the cold, wrapping presents for people, for free. (I say we, but as my present wrapping skills are next to nil, my contribution is to look after the children for a couple of hours so my wife can go).
Every year we get the same responses from people. We get the people looking for the catch, expecting that if they take us up on the offer, we're going to ensnare them and somehow make them come to church. We get those who ask how much it costs, and when we tell them its free, they look around for a donation box to pay anyway.
And of course we get those poor confused souls who just want to know why we're doing it, which is great, because it gives us a chance to explain that we're doing it as a small way to show love and blessing to the people of Coventy, to help them a little bit. Because when you've received something as life transforming as God's grace, you can't help but want to be generous back - to give to others something, even its just a tiny bit of what you've received...
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