Anti-grace

 


Robert Lee Bennight
I believe that self-rejection is the major symptom of all the depressive disorders people suffer from today. I think of depression as "anti-grace." Whereas grace is a gift of God's love that we cannot earn but in which we learn to live through our community of faith, anti-grace is also something that we are often born into by biology or initiated into by trauma that we do not deserve and in which we slowly die through isolation.
The good news is that in Christ to whom we have been baptized, grace is the future reality. Anti-grace has no future beyond this malfunctioning biological shell. And even before we reach the future, each day is an opportunity to live into grace. And when we fail, and anti-grace seems to win, there is always the resurrection dawn that sets us on the path anew.

Comments

Post a Comment

Sharing, feedback, and helping one another is welcome. Spewing hate, exclusivity, and arguing for argument's sake has many other places than here to be expressed.

Popular posts from this blog

"Go from your country..."

A challenge I find on Sundays is that I have already written my sermon and explored the texts, so my mind goes to what I am about to preach. So, as I try to compartmentalize about what I will be preaching on this Second Sunday of Lent, I am drawn to the Genesis reading and God's command to Abraham to, "Go from your country..." And this is a completely personal and selfish reflection. Pastoral ministry, at least in the years of my formation, almost always required one to "Go from your country..." My ministry travels have taken me to Berkeley, CA, Quetzaltenango, Guatemala, Concord, CA, Pacifica, CA, Clinton, WI, Dubuque, IA, Loves Park, IL, Rockford, IL, Durand, IL, and now to Phillips and Smith Counties in Kansas. All these places from someone who is a third-generation Arizonan, who initially served the state of Arizona for seven years, and who could not imagine anything that would entice him to leave. In fact, when I am honest with myself, the prospect of leavi...
Read more

"The Survivor"

Image
WARNING... MAY CONTAIN TRIGGERS I began writing this poem a couple of days after a life-threatening event while inpatient for treatment of bipolar disorder.  "The Survivor"  Infinite savage, but not eternal. Predator instincts hidden beneath competent smiles. Stalking in public places covering forbidden thoughts. False faces in the mirror, determined by bankrupt values.  Its whisper deafens ears to hope, eyes to beauty, and souls from redemption. Prey snared in the whisper, and in the whimper of evil victorious, Grace is known by eternal realms far to come. But in the chaos of fate or faith,  Some escape on wounded sanity, Surviving at times, unsure why.  Lies retreat from life's worthy call. Proleptically carried to the eternal realm of grace, Wounded, but not dead, with love redefined. Infinite savage tamed to earthly time. Wounded, I am, but prey no more. Hope giving purpose and peace. Eyes and ears opened, soul swimming in grace! Mamed, but strong, reflectin...
Read more

Flooded with Law; Deaf to Grace

Something that I have noticed in teaching confirmation classes over the years is that the church has been very good at preaching law but not so much on grace. The questions I often get start out as, "Is it okay for Christians to...?" And while the law is important, the focus on the law as simply prohibitive instead of freeing is a real problem.  It is steeped in our culture. After all, we fight about the Ten Commandments being displayed in courthouses, but we never have the same discussions about the Beatitudes, which are a definitively Christian contribution that reveals for what and for whom we are freed.  So, I gently try to steer the questions from "Is it okay for Christians to...?" to "For what or for whom are Christians freed?" "How are we freed to be a living law of love and grace?" 
Read more