Grace and ungrace

Over recent days I have read, experienced and heard ungrace. It has hurt me, but more importantly it has hurt others - people I hold quite dear . This ungrace has come from people who love the Lord, and love him deeply and earnestly, and when that happens it is hard to grasp, it is hard to stomach and hurts all the more. We wonder how Christians can be so hurtful, often in such public arenas.

 

As we live, and work and minister in the midst of this ungrace I am left wondering what happens when grace and ungrace meet. In a moment of fancy I picture cataclysmic battles of good and evil, like tectonic plates colliding with lava spewing or Hollywood portrayals of apocalyptic endings. And yet neither really speaks to me of ungrace and grace.

 

Firstly, ungrace is not evil. It sometimes comes from godly people because godly people are human. Ask any religious leader whether they forgot to pray some time and they will say "yes". Did they forget to turn to God first? At some point in their ministry they will have done. Sometimes people get so passionate about something, so devoted to it, that they forget to seek God before they act and speak. When they do this they allow ungrace to step in, often with vociferous, harmful and biting words. It allows the human voice to take control rather than allowing the divine voice to speak through our human words. It is not evil, it is just not of God.

 

Secondly, ungrace must not be met in a like form. It must be met with a grace that is loving and yet firm, quiet and yet certain, speaking to the moment and yet speaking for eternity. Grace must not only calm the tone, it must set a new tone, it must set an example that some might not follow and yet still it must try. Ungrace will eventually run out of steam, it will run out of vengeance, it will run out of momentum, but grace will never run out. A person may take hatred and ungrace to the grave, but grace reaches beyond the grave.

 

When grace and ungrace meet, the human and the divine meet. In these circumstances the divine uses us to heal the wounds and to minister to the broken and when the smoke clears, when the hatred has died and the human failings have passed we see grace standing firm, victorious over all that has stood against it.

 

Through many dangers, toils and snares

I have already come,

'Tis grace that led me safe this far,

And grace will lead me home.

 

Amazing Grace!