Tuesday, December 12, 2006

embracing grace 13: dancing embrace

To be embraced by God in grace, and to embrace in return involves an action likened to a dance with Jesus Christ, which begins by embracing the world, the community of faith and Jesus personally.

God is at work in the world, and his people, as church, are an intrical part of his work. Each of us has our special place, task and gift from God. Like Tolkien's Niggle, we have a vision from God of what's to come, his will. We can see that fulfilled as we enter into the uniuqe task at hand for each of us.

God is at work in the faith community. All who are part of this embracing grace are part of community. Therefore we need to live this out. We need to find a faith community, a church that we can be part of, so as to be God's kingdom light to the world. We are there for each other in this, in Jesus. And from that we end up being here for the world.

And God is at work to help us personally embrace Jesus. We do this through the sacraments of baptism and the Lord's Supper. Through these acts of faith, we enter into a communion of fellowship with our Lord. And this faith personalizes, in all of our acts and interactions during our days. It is very much down to earth where we all live. In our families, our neighborhoods and beyond. And also back to our own reading of Scripture, meditation, prayer, and then works of love.

In all of this we are learning to dance the dance of embracing grace. A dance which our Lord teaches us personally. And which leads us to a wonderful end of which God has given us a glimpse here and now.

How is life like a dance? And what does this mean for all of God's creation that is to be renewed?

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Which means that we all do the steps just a little bit differently. :)

Anonymous said...

Hi Ted,

You know I love the dance metaphor when it comes to faith, grace, etc. Receiving, leading, space, closeness, rhythm, collaboration, partnership, movement, etc. in relationships and community.

Ted M. Gossard said...

L.L., So true. And in so many ways. So that we have to be careful how we see others, or how we see ourselves in all of this. Then just let go and enjoy it all (in a real way).

Ted M. Gossard said...

Dan, Great thought(s) there, about what this means. Dynamic, creative within the calling God has for us together, in Jesus.