December Focus

Surprising Grace

December launches the season of Advent. Faithful people recall the hope of God's active presence in their lives. The one the Hebrew prophets called the Eternal Word became flesh in Jesus of Nazareth to transform human history. This same Eternal Word continues to work in our midst to transform and to heal.

The Advent hope is that in the power of the Holy Spirit, God continues to work in the lives of those who welcome his active presence.

This raises an important question. Does God really act in the midst of human experience? Or is the idea that God works in the life of an individual person just a fairytale, a holdover idea from a superstitious age?

In 1748 Scottish philosopher David Hume published an essay that planted a seed of religious skepticism that grew up in the Victorian age and came to full flower in the 20th century. He argued a thoughtful person could not reasonably believe in "miracles." Our consistent and universal experience of the laws of nature outweighs the infrequent witness one may encounter in support of miracles.

For example, one may live a lifetime along the shore of the Red Sea and never see it part. Or one may drink thousands of glasses of water and never see one turn into wine. It is reasonable, David Hume would say, to discount a claim that the Red Sea once parted to let pass a band of Hebrew slaves, or that water once became wine at a wedding in Cana of Galilee.

This 18th century argument contributed in the 19th century to a reevaluation of the miracle stories in Scripture. The question, "Did it really happen?" became a permanent fixture in the minds of 20th century. The answer to this question through force of habit feels like common sense and has now become a permanent fixture in the minds of the 21st century. The answer everyone assumes is, of course, "Miracles do not happen."

This has led to a monumental shift in human consciousness. If people before David Hume had a naïve and superstitious belief in the myth of miracles, people have a naïve and superstitious belief in a different kind of myth today. It generates what amounts to be a new religious consciousness.

Today's myth understands reality as a closed system of events driven by an infinite chain of cause of effect relations. A miracle could not happen because it would require a break in this chain of causal relations.

If God exists, God must either exist outside of this causal chain with no means of interaction with it. Or, God must exist within this causal chain and be a product of it, perhaps as a projection of human consciousness, or as an impersonal force at work "in nature." Either way, the God of the Bible passes out of existence.

The season of Advent challenges this modern myth. The season calls us to live with the certain expectation that God who dwells outside the causal chain ("beyond the realm of light inaccessible") intervenes on our behalf.

Is this Advent hope reasonable? David Hume would argue no. His own consistent and universal experience of the laws of nature argues against the season of Advent. However, Hume's argument applies only to those who themselves have never experienced the surprising grace of God's intervening hand.

Hume's argument provides rational justification for those who peer at the community of faith from the outside in. It in no way undermines the faith of those who have themselves have experienced and witnessed the miraculous.

In this way every generation reawakens the Advent hope anew. Even the most skeptical among us continue to be surprised by grace. God easily overcomes the argument from doubt. It is silenced by an act of love. This will always be the greatest miracle of all.

Monthly Focus Archive

2006:

Easter Focus: New Covenant
Lenten Focus: A Covenantal Response to Poverty
February Focus: Moving Forward

2005:

December Focus: Longing
November Focus: The Gift of Years
October Focus: Stewardship
September Focus: Foundations
Summer Focus: The Book of Acts
Easter Focus: Tapestry
Lenten Focus: Rule of Life
January Focus: The Next Wave

2004:

December Focus: Surprising Grace
November Focus: Free Indeed
October Focus: Money Madness
September Focus: The Outrageous Promise
Summer Focus: Into the Fullness
June Focus: Thick Faith
Easter Focus: All Things New
Lent Focus: A Hungry World
February Focus: Commitment
January Focus: Unity

2003:

December Focus: Hope
November Focus: Worship
October Focus: Stewardship
September Focus: Seasons of Faith
Summer Focus: The Gospel of John
May Focus: Faith
April Focus: Resurrection
March Focus: Truth
February Focus: Covenant Groups
January Focus: Sabbath

2002:

December Focus: Shut Up and Sing
November Focus: Spiritual Gifts
October Focus: Stewardship
September Focus: Intentional Faith