Giving I

In 1937 Dietrich Bonhoeffer published one of the defining works of theology of the twentieth-century: a German Lutheran pastor, a world-class theologian, a man executed for attempting to assassinate Hitler, a man who knew the cost of discipleship – wrote that grace is free, but never cheap.

Grace is free but never cheap. A little bit like the NHS – but without the waiting times.

The Church, and especially the Church of England, prefers to treat grace as being cheap. It fits better that way – it fulfils measurable goals on parish returns. It’s like Church Schools – In London entry to a church school usually means having the vicar sign a form saying you attend at least fortnightly for two years and have ‘active involvement’, that ghastly phrase, meaning you’re on some sort of rota. Having spent my entire adult life studying the Christian faith, I can tell you there is nothing in 2000 years of Christian reflection on the doctrine of salvation about being on a rota. Church schools, make being a Christian cheap but not free. But grace is free and never cheap.

So well, you might ask as we sit together in church – what does it mean, what does it cost to be a Christian? Nothing. There is no badge, no welcome pack, no registration form, no membership card or certificate, no free gift except – if you can grasp it – a gift that has always been yours, that arrived before your first breath.  You don’t have to come to church, you don’t have to join in the hymns, speak to anyone else or sign up for regular giving – Being a Christian is free, The love of God is free, Grace is free.

And this is something we need to hear, learn and inwardly digest. I think it’s less common now for Christians to judge one another – We’re rightly just pleased when people turn up and happy to allow people to choose their level involvement –That’s right – because grace is free. It demands nothing. It needs nothing. You are welcome. In the front row, hovering at the back, grace is the same. God loves you no more and no less.

But it’s more often the case we need to address the insecurity in ourselves. Very often we want to do something to qualify – To make us good enough – To believe we’ve made it to being a Christian. To prove to ourselves or others our faith or goodness or worth. But give it up. You are good enough – you’re worth it – You’re forgiven – you’re accepted – included – You are one of us – inside, perhaps especially, if you’re more comfortable outside; Because grace is free. And there’s nothing you can do about it. Grace is free.

But grace is never cheap. So Bonhoeffer writes of the disciples: ‘They must burn their boats and plunge into absolute insecurity in order to learn the demand and the gift of Christ’ (53). Bonhoeffer the most promising theologian of the twentieth-century, who was a pastor here in London shortly before the war, who was offered a post in America to escape the regime he preached against, who was hung at Flossenberg Camp days before it was liberated by Americans, whose last words were: ‘“This is the end—for me, the beginning of life.” Knew and lived a grace that was not cheap. Because what we say, we learn, we sing, we share with one another here in church is that grace matters; That the fact that we are loved and ought to love another, That every one of us matters – Is something that should change us.

And not just in our Church Sunday club. Our membership with its low-bar entry and the small benefits of coffee for those who get through the service, a biscuit if you get there before my children, a place in a church school, a warm handshake before leaving. Faith is not a transaction; Grace is not found in isolation in a Sunday morning. If it’s there, it’s bubbling under the surface, nudging us in the direction of love; “Yes, I will make that call today” “Yes, it makes me uncomfortable but I will knock on her door before getting home” “Yes, I will forgive my son who has neglected me” “Yes, I will support this cause because it’s making a difference” “Yes, I will pray for five minutes before I go to sleep” Grace is the voice inside your head saying ‘yes’ to other people. And that isn’t cheap, it’s demanding; it’s persistent; You probably heard it at your wedding: Love bears all things, hopes all things, believes all things, endures all things.

The New Testament teaches one very simple thing. God is love. This isn’t about the existence of a being, or some metaphysical abstraction – It’s just to say that the meaning and point of life is love. The love demonstrated in words and action by Jesus. That love is free. It’s given to you; To each one of us, but it’s also the source, the principle and the reward of everything. Literally everything that matters, everything that endures has the character of love. To discover this, is a thing of joy and release. You don’t have to try; You don’t have to be something or know something, or do something; You are accepted for being you.

But to understand the implication of this is to realise that everyone is loved – Even people we don’t love; People we don’t agree with; And especially people whose lives are characterised by things that would make us miserable. And if love is working in us it will take our resources and direct them to the needs of others. This isn’t abstract. It will usually begin with those closest to us; Our family, our friends, whose needs we are most aware of. Then our community – our neighbours, our church, the groups and people we’re involved with. Then perhaps we’ll see more need, more suffering further afield where we can actively assist. Love is open-ended – it will take us as far as our courage allows. Like the disciples we may burn our boats and plunge into insecurity; Like Bonhoeffer and Bonhoeffer’s friends, family and fiancée we may lose everything for love; It may just be nudging us a little further – To pray, to give, to volunteer, to join, to say ‘yes’ to someone else. Not to buy our faith, to appease a demanding god; to purchase a sense of goodness or validation; But to be a part of that grace which is always free, but never cheap.

So over these next 3 weeks where we’re thinking about giving, this is the starting point. Grace, love is free but never cheap. And we are like God when we freely give to others; But that will cost us; And if we love completely it will ask for everything. But to have nothing but love is to be divine. So each of us can ask ourselves today. Out of our plenitude – out of our fullness, our resources – Our time, our skills, our energy, our prayers, our wealth – What do we have to give today? Grace is free, but never cheap. Amen.