“He Shines in All That’s Fair”
I read it way back in November and it made the cut as one of my favorite books of the year, but until now I haven’t blogged about Richard Mouw’s He Shines in All That’s Fair: Culture and Common Grace (Eerdmans). Honestly, I just had to let it sit for a while, to settle.
It came highly recommended by someone in the know as a good introduction to common grace theology, a theme I decided I’d do well to actually study a bit, rather than just carrying around in my head various muddled thoughts about what I took it to mean. It’s a small, 101-page book, and as an introduction to such an enormous topic, it’s a delight to read, and it really packs a punch.
Mouw sets the stage by describing two distinct Christian camps: those who tend to emphasize what Christians and non-Christians have in common, and those who tend to emphasize all the differences. It’s right to acknowledge the legitimacy of both commonness and difference, he says. This book has more to do with the latter, but with an important condition: “Our search for the grounds of commonness must be motivated by a faith that cuts against the grain of much of contemporary life and thought.”
To suggest, as common grace theologians do, that God is up to more in the world than just saving souls, may be controversial in some circles. But I agree with Mouw that according to the Bible, God's redemptive purposes are cosmic in scope. Still, Mouw acknowledges that there’s mystery involved, especially when it comes down to the specifics. “Properly understood,” he writes, “common grace theology is an attempt to preserve an area of mystery regarding God’s dealings with humankind.”
While most of us would find it reasonable to affirm that God delights in the beauty of his creation – “glowing sunsets and ocean waves breaking on a rocky coastline and a cherry tree in bloom and the speed of a leopard on the chase” – could it also be true that God “takes a positive interest in how unbelievers use God-given talents to produce works of beauty and goodness” or that he takes an active role in restraining sin and evil, even among those who have not accepted him as Lord? Mouw writes:
The underlying view I am endorsing here posits multiple divine purposes in the world. To state it plainly: I am insisting that as God unfolds his plan for his creation, he is interested in more than one thing. Alongside of God’s clear concern about the eternal destiny of individuals are his designs for the larger creation...
It is important for us in these difficult days to cultivate... modesty and humility in our efforts at cultural faithfulness. But we cannot give up on the important task – which the theologians of common grace have correctly urged upon us – of actively working to discern God’s complex designs in the midst of our deeply wounded world.
Learning discernment, as we all know, is messy business, but it’s essential not just in common grace theology but in all of life. Thankfully, we’re not left to figure it out on our own: we’re given the Holy Spirit and we’re given a local church, “that community where the Spirit is openly at work, regenerating sinners and sanctifying their inner selves.”
There’s so much more I could say about this little book and this very big theme, but I’ll leave it at that for now. I'll revisit common grace theology again before too long, and Richard Mouw too, for that matter.
How do you understand the doctrine of common grace? Do you agree with Mouw’s assertion that God has “multiple divine purposes in the world”? If so, how does that impact how we live?
Christian ministry on gang turf
By now, many have heard of Father Gregory Boyle, the Jesuit priest who founded Homeboy Industries to create opportunities for gang members in Los Angeles to leave their lives of violence and to start doing something life-giving. I blogged about his excellent book Tattoos on the Heart in September and included it as one of my favorite books of the year last week. The work he has done to transform the lives of so many in LA is truly inspiring.
Unfortunately, LA isn't the only place where gangs are rampant, and Father Gregory can't be everywhere at once. The good news is that he apparently has a kindred spirit in San Salvador, the capital of El Salvador. He's Father Antonio Lopez Tercero, or "Padre Toño", and his parish happens to be one of the most violent neighborhoods in a terribly violent city. While he hasn't quite matched Father Gregory in entrepreneurial terms, it seems that his ministry is one of the few things holding that neighborhood together and pointing young men to a better way.
Al Jazeera English's Witness program featured Father Anthony on this recent episode.
If you're a praying person, please say a prayer for Father Anthony and those he serves in San Salvador. And pray that many more will follow Jesus, the Prince of Peace, into the hard places as instruments of shalom.
[Photo credit: yoni via Photobucket.com]
Why not every Christian should be a justice activist
I don't need to tell you that in recent years there's been an unprecedented surge in the number of evangelical Christians and churches seeking to integrate faith and justice. I also don't need to tell you that those with competing visions of what that integration ought to look like can become quite contentious with each other.
The apostle Paul, in his first letter to the Corinthian church, taught that we Christians are one body with many parts. And Jesus said that unbelievers will be able to recognize that we are Christians by our love for each other. I'm concerned about our bickering.
In my reading of the Bible it seems clear that faith and justice are inseparably linked. But it also seems clear to me that there's more to the Christian life than doing justice. It's an essential part of the Christian life, and I'd say it's an essential part of the work of the church, but it's hardly the whole thing. Christian justice activists need to be reminded of that.
But I'm convinced that churches have a responsibility to justice activists, as well, a responsibility far too often neglected. Gary Haugen, president of International Justice Mission, writes in his book Just Courage:
In this era I believe many Christians are yearning to walk on a pathway to courage. They yearn for liberation from small and trivial things, and to experience the passion and power of God on the more jagged edges of faith, where true glory lies. And I believe God is providing a very specific answer to that yearning and a very concrete path for getting there: God is calling his people to a pathway out of fear and triviality through the struggle for justice in his world.
And perhaps more surprising, it is call to all his people. It’s not a call to the handful of social justice zealots or slightly odd issue advocates in our faith community. Many churches miss out on God’s transforming call by putting the handful of justice agitators in their congregation on some ministry subcommittee where they can do ‘their thing’ without, hopefully, doing any harm. This effectively inoculates the rest of the congregation and directs everyone else right back onto their Christian cul-de-sac, where round and round they go.
Spiritually healthy and dynamic churches, on the other hand, have learned to equip the whole community of faith to do the things that matter to God.
There's much more to a "spiritually healthy and dynamic church" than justice, and it's clearly not the only thing that matters to God. But Haugen is right that it's an essential component, and that spiritually healthy and dynamic churches will indeed equip those called by God to faithful lives of justice activism.
Each of us is called to immerse ourselves in Scripture, though not everyone is called to teach. We’re all called to join other believers in corporate worship, but not all are called to serve as worship leaders. All of us are called to give the reason for the hope within us, but not all are called to be evangelists. In the same way, God calls all of us to do justice, to love kindness and to walk humbly with him, but that does not mean all of us are called to lives of justice activism.
Justice activists would do well to acknowledge the blessing it is to be part of a community of faith along with those who teach Scripture and lead them in worship and share the good news of Jesus. At the same time, teachers, worship leaders and evangelists would do well to embrace those uniquely in a position to reweave shalom in our world.
So how does your church relate to those members who are passionate about justice, who are called by God to be instruments of shalom in a world in desperate need of redemption? Are they given token nods of approval, but relegated to the sidelines where they hopefully won't do too much damage or make too much noise? Or are they seen as essential members of the body of Christ to be nurtured and discipled just like everyone else?
Do our senior pastors and worship leaders and children's ministry staff and small group leaders see how essential the justice people are to the well-being of the church? And vice versa? Do the justice people see that if everyone was just like them the church wouldn't be all that God intended it to be? What might the consequences be if we disregard all of this and let the bickering run its course?
[Image credit: Merill Comeau]
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