October 24, 2009

Sometimes the longer you are in the church the less grace you find! It is a challenge to discover grace - to act graciously. I always felt the graciousness of manners and hospitality in the South, but my wife pointed out to me that for some folks that was a veneer that was easily "chipped". And the truth is that the better we know each other we tend to know one another's irritating tendencies and ways, rather than sharing another's struggle in life or pain. So we settle for tolerance, and strive to be polite, because that is much better than speaking our mind. But the church cannot be God's voice and hands being polite ?offering forgiveness and bringing justice requires serious tools - we need God's grace to minister!

Where does grace begin? With opening our hearts, minds and lives to experiences other than our own! We need to let go of the understanding that our faith is a debate, with right and wrong, winners and losers. My way is not the only way, nor is it the right way. Faith is a relationship to be negotiated and learned - not a truth to be captured and held!

I recently attended my daughter's Back To School Night - a kind of fall open house where families meet teachers and see classrooms. In her fourth period art class each of the supply buckets had an artist's name attached. I recognized all of them but one - Brancusi. I went home to look him up on the internet and found a story of grace. Brancusi grew up in a small village known for its artisans and wood carving. As a child he was bullied by his father and older brothers, in part because he spent so much of his time carving objects out of wood. As a young man he worked in a local market and on his breaks he would draw and carve. The owner of the market offered to send Brancusi to a craft school where his talents could be developed. Brancusi accepted this offer, against the wishes of his parents and later went to art school after successfully completing his artisan training. Due to the attention and care of a market owner, Brancusi became one of the most renowned sculptors in the world. A market owner who had an open heart and mind - who saw a gift to be nurtured that didn't involve simple self-interest or personal gain.

Grace also requires that we listen to others as though God may speak through what they say. . . Maurice Sendak is a famous children's author; his book Where The Wild Things Are is now being released as a live action feature film. Sendak began his career illustrating other writer's books. After WWII, those books dealt with an idealized family, and a very limited range of emotions for children and adults alike. A prime example isMake Way for Ducklings by Robert McCloskey, where the joy and hope of a nuclear family life is extended to the animal world. Sendak grew up poor in Brooklyn, with parents who survived the Holocaust. His school and neighbors were tough - the dinner table at home the only safe place. Where the Wild Things Are is a story about a boy who rebels and is asked to stay away from the dinner table. The story explores a child's struggles and concerns, and how imagination plays a role in healing! Sendak showed great courage and grace in writing about the darker side of a child's life - feelings of loneliness and anger, at a time when such feelings and ideas were considered out of bounds for children's literature.

Finally, grace means considering that we may be the problem - and also that we may be a part of the solution. Rachel Weeks is a 2007 graduate of Duke University in Durham, North Carolina?an engaging student who received a Fulbright Scholarship and traveled to Indonesia to learn about the conditions of sweatshop labor from young women in that country. Weeks decided over time to begin a company that would produce licensed college apparel without using sweatshop practices - providing a living wage, housing assistance and some basic medical care to the young women who worked to make these garments. Weeks has successfully marketed her company and signed several major universities to contracts for licensed apparel that is produced under non-oppressive conditions in Indonesia. In the process of her education and developing her business, Weeks had to acknowledge that her privilege and the developed world demand for apparel and profits were causing a significant concern for young women in developing countries. Weeks decided, with grace, to become a part of a just solution.

Several years ago I learned of a couple from Orange County, CA whose daughter had been volunteering in South Africa to try to bring about justice for suffering native black South Africans. In the course of her work this young woman was murdered by two black South African youths. In an effort to remember their daughter and show their profound support for her life and her recent work, her parents decided to sell their home in CA and move to South Africa and begin a business that would employ young black South Africans with a living wage. In a striking and unbelievable decision, the couple decided to employ the two men who had killed their daughter as the managers of this new business, explaining that their daughter would have wanted these young men to develop into productive workers and leaders in their own community. Surely this decision by these grieving parents is a sign of the kind of grace we are meant to express with our faith. When punishment and retribution would have seemed more than fair, this couple pleaded to have these young men spared from a life in prison in order to contribute to the welfare of their communities. In a single gesture this couple turned a problem - a profound, painful heartache - into a solution that spoke volumes about justice, about compassion and about God's grace.

If we are to minister in God's name and do God's work, we need tools that are equal to the task. Simple tolerance or politeness will not do! We are offered the grace of God, should be choose to accept and live into its promises. May it be so with our community on this day and in the days ahead. Amen.