An Invitation to Receive

How can we, mere humans, be saved?

                We need grace. God’s grace. Christians have universally believed since the beginning of the church that we can only be saved by the grace of God that he freely offers and gives to us.

                God’s giving us grace – I will use the term conveying grace to us – is his choice. He is the initiator, always and forever. We receive and do so with gladness.

                But is this simple passivity? Do we, mere humans, stand back, doing nothing at all except waiting for God to generously and graciously bestow his favor?

                The Church has also denied this. We are not wholly passive creatures. So how do we engage with God as he conveys his grace to us?

                Here, John Wesley taught that grace is not only something we believe in. It is something that we practice. God has ordained that he will meet us in ordinary, faithful acts – actions we take that open our lives to his love, the love that transforms us into the image of Christ. Wesley called these practices the Means of Grace.

                A coalition of Wesleyan and Methodist scholars and pastors recently created a document that systematically works through the Christian faith from the standpoint of Wesley’s teachings. Concerning the Means of Grace, this document reads: “A means of grace is a channel by which God communicates grace: the power of the Holy Spirit.” It goes on to say this: “Faith and holy living are the fruit of the Father’s self-giving in the Son by the Spirit who indwells the Church through the means of grace.” It references Irenaeus, the great 2^nd century bishop and Doctor of the Church, who said that wherever the Spirit of God and the Church were, there would be every kind of grace.

                Wesley spoke about the ordinary means of grace as prayer, reading scripture, hearing scripture (including sermons, the proclamation of the Word), receiving the Lord’s Supper, fasting, and acts of mercy. He spoke of these practices as outward signs, words, or actions that God uses to convey grace to human beings. These actions may feel simple and repetitive, but God’s Spirit often works quietly. He forms us over time, steadily and intentionally, rather than all at once.

                The Means of Grace, as Wesley understands them, are not ways through which we earn God’s favor. Think of them as gifts – gifts God gives us through which he chooses to strengthen us and shape us, to draw us deeper into relationship with him as he forms us into his image. When we pray, search the Scriptures, love and serve our neighbors, and receive the Lord’s Supper, we are not proving our devotion to God in the hopes that he will recognize us. We are placing ourselves where God has promised he will work.

                In our hurried, fast-paced world, these Means of Grace remind us that spiritual growth cannot be found through shortcuts or moments of intensity – it is found in faithful, constant attentiveness. Each moment of prayer, each quiet time, each Sunday morning worship service is an opportunity to meet God and receive his grace in a new way. Whether we show up weary, distracted, or even begrudgingly, God knows what we need.

                Consider this gentle invitation: choose one of the means mentioned previously and practice it with intention. Take 15 minutes to read Scripture with the expectation that God is going to meet you in that moment. Pray slowly, calmly, perhaps without supplication – simply sitting in God’s presence. Trust that God is present, and that his Spirit is at work, even when you can’t see any fruit.

                “Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.” – Ephesians 3:20-21

The document I referenced is entitled “The Faith Once Delivered: A Wesleyan Witness.” You can read and download it here: https://nextmethodism.org/summit-document/. The section I referenced is found on page 47 of the document: Section 5.155.