HEY CRANKY REVEREND….What is Grace?

Cranky Reverend (CR) is trying to find some sanity in this world of accusations, fake news, hate thy neighbor television and cancerous conversations….whatever happened to civility and my mother’s advice “If you have nothing nice to say, then stuff a doughnut in your mouth.”

Crankeverend has been reading about meditation — CR doesn’t always like being cranky. After all, how Cranky can a Cranky Reverend get cranked when a Crankeverend is really cranked up? The answer is “Really Cranky”. The irony, as CR sees it, is that pastors, the cranky and non-cranky alike, are supposed to be models of Grace — offering Grace and practicing Grace. But, does the Grace bucket have a limit?  Sooo, that, of course, is the question Cranky Reverend is considering today: “Hey Cranky Reverend, What is Grace and where do I find it?”

Well, Let CR tell you a story….all the names and places and seasons of the church have been changed to protect the guilty, errrr I mean the innocent. But first, let’s start with a parable:

Then Jesus told this parable: “A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came looking for fruit on it and found none. So he said to the worker who tended the vineyard, ʻFor three years now, I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree, and each time I inspect it I find none. Cut it down! Why should it continue to deplete the soil?ʼ But the worker answered him, ʻSir, leave it alone this year too, until I dig around it and put fertilizer on it. Then if it bears fruit next year, very well, but if not, you can cut it down.ʼ” Luke 13:6-9

That, my friends, is what CR calls grace — unmerited grace — an endless stream of second chances, unexpected forgiveness, and overwhelming love offered when we have done nothing to deserve it.

So, back to the story. Once upon a time, in a town far, far away, there was a group of pastors, some might call them a “Gaggle of pastors” — others might call them competitors — but not CR. This small group of pastors were trying to organize some services that would be held around a meal. These pastors have been colleagues for many, many months. Now, pastors usually are busy as pastors usually are — so busy that getting together to talk about these services just wasn’t a possibility.  So they embarked on planning meals and services via the internet. Dates for the meals were not a problem, for the dates were determined by the calendar and the season. The only question was where to hold each service and what to serve for the meal — in other words, can we divide up the meals with equity and balance?

Dates were laid out and churches plugged in. All was scheduled — and then all “whiny h***” broke out. One pastor opined:

“We don’t have people to help serve and cook on the date that was assigned to us” (you may add a whiny voice if you wish). “Crankeverend’s church is assigned the dates we want”.

Now, that loud sucking sound you hear via the internet was complete silence — that is what pastors do to one another, right? No one spoke — actually typed a response to the whining….errrr……opining. The silence lasted for days — weeks.  Then came another whine, errr….response from “Whiny pastor”: “We’ve been blocked out of the process, and even though I didn’t feel it necessary to speak to anyone, or write anyone, or reach out to anyone, you (darn Lutheran pastor) should have known that my feelings were hurt because you didn’t include me and my church.” (ditto on the whiny voice)

That, my friends, is not Grace. Grace is not demanding your own way all the time — Grace is not being self-centered or selfish — Grace is not impatient, rude, arrogant or dismissive of others. Grace is not throwing manure at others, it is digging around your own self and looking for areas where you need to grow — because G-d loves us for who we are, children of G-d — not for what we have or haven’t done.

How should Cranky Reverend respond? CR’s training is to reply with Grace — it is in CR’s blood after all — though it often gets clogged up in the synapses of this Cranky Reverend’s brain. Sometimes CR’s Grace arteries clog — and then burst — with Grace-less responses.

You see, even pastors, like Cranky Reverend struggle with Grace — giving Grace and accepting Grace. But that is why the great gardener says he will come next year — and the following year — and the year after that — and so on and so on……so we have more and more chances to give, find, accept and be grateful for how Grace-filled our G-d of Grace really is — and then share that Grace with each other.

And so Crankeverend opened up the scheduling and everyone had the opportunity to select the dates that fit their schedules best — and all lived happily ever after. The moral of the story? Jesus Christ is the full definition of Grace — his love, his life, his death and the forgiveness offered through his resurrection is what we need to live through the Crankiness and the Whininess of this world………we on the other hand, well, Grace is not a selective science, it is a way of life.