Celebrating God's Grace in Every Season.

Leading up to Thanksgiving and the Christmas season, a lot of churches start talking about Grace. Tis’ the season of Grace. Of easy thankfulness and annual generosity. Christians give thanks to God for his Grace through Jesus. They thank God for His bounty. Many Christians turn their attention to being God’s Grace to others by serving the needs of our communities and world. But, what about after Christmas? Is God’s Grace seasonal? Where can you find Grace the rest of the year?

My colleague, Bill Cowles, is visiting family in South Africa, and in just a week has encountered God and his powerful Grace in countless people and places, in both big and small ways. That’s the way God works. Bill reports:

• Smellen Dube is our daughter’s family’s domestic helper. She’s from Zimbabwe but works in South Africa because there is work here. Her two young children live in her sister’s home in Zimbabwe and Smellen sees them only 3-4 times a year. Smellen has gone to the Seventh Day Adventist church all of her life. She works six days a week and then attends church meetings all day every Saturday. She is committed to her family, her work, and her church. Behaviorists say that we each have “three places” – home, work, and one other of our choosing. Smellen chooses church because, she says, “We do good things for other people.” Smellen is thankful for the opportunity to work and to serve. God’s grace is never wasted.
• Milly Jarvis was a successful entrepreneur in the travel industry and built a substantial agency. During a charitable activity by her church, she visited Riversands Primary school, an elementary school of 700 children serving some of the poorer townships in the Johannesburg area. Milly’s heart was touched when she learned that malnutrition was causing serious learning deficits in the children there. She engaged a local ministry to help feed those kids a nutritious meal once a week. Once a week became twice, and soon three days. She then organized the land and equipment needed to start a vegetable garden on-site. A corps of volunteers, many of whom are parents from the school, helps grow, prepare, and serve these lifesaving meals. From the depths of hopelessness, this school has risen out of its own ashes and is now educating children at a high level because the children are well-nourished with food and love. Milly is thankful for both the organizations and individuals who have heard her call and who have risen to the challenge to donate time, food, and money to “her school.” God’s grace is never wasted.
• Alan Plant is Head of Pastoral Care at Rhema Ministries, a charismatic Pentecostal megachurch in Randburg, near Johannesburg. Alan loves to play golf early every Saturday, but this one morning he forgot to put his clubs in the boot of his car and had to go back home for them. That put him about two hours behind his schedule, so he played solo, skipping through foursomes ahead of him as play would allow. Until he came upon a group of three Americans who told him it was seriously crowded ahead of them, so why not just join our group. He did and conversation turned to occupations. When I heard he was with Rhema, I told him that his church was on my visit list. I had discovered it on the Web before my trip and wanted to learn more about how they are engaging non- and “baby” Christians. We set a date to meet for lunch and talk about what we can learn from each other about how to do church better for the betterment of God’s Kingdom. His comment to one of our other players, “This was certainly God putting me with you all today.” God’s grace is never wasted.

I’ve heard many churches attempt to define what Grace is, including some attempts to define Grace by putting limitations on receiving it. And in considering those attempts, I’ve come to believe two things about Grace:
 

1.        First, Grace is undefinable. Just as God cannot be fully explained in words, neither can His Grace. 

2.       Second, Grace is unconditional in who receives it. Just as God is available to everyone, so is His Grace.

I recently heard a pastor talk about Grace in this way: “Grace is…How God is...How He behaves...Persuasive. . .Persistent...Always and forever...God’s mercy.”

I don’t find any limitations or conditions in this statement – do you? Let me know if you find any. Otherwise, I’m going to continue to believe that each of us can continue to find God and His Grace in any place, and at any time. All we need to do is look and listen.