Irrational Grace - grace that is not governed by human reasoning.

September 13, 2011 at 9:57 AM (Uncategorized)

Never Beyond Week Four:  KKK

Three letters that evoke terror, pain, and disgust. A hate group… terrorists…here in our country, amongst our people, near our homes. 

In many ways I feel incapable of writing anything about this group. I am an average, white, middle class woman living in a suburban area in the midwest. In fact I grew up in a small country town so the first time I heard about such a group was in highschool during history and the topic was touched lightly… even our history teacher presented such a topic with shame and remorse.

This morning I cried as I read about the symbol of the burning cross… that it was meant for “Christian” fellowship while also to provoke terror to any outsider who may see it…to anyone who didn’t fit the specific “class” of the KKK.

                                                                    American Terrorism.

 A group of people, a gathering of humans who’s common ground is hate. Terror provoked by burning a cross that is supposed to be the ultimate symbol of grace. Is forgiveness even in the equation?

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All of this brought me here… to this question: What is it about our human nature that brings us to a place to believe we are better than? On a large scale and a small scale a like. We somehow become consumed with believing if we obtain a certain characteristic or are part of a specific social group or club we are it. We are better. Sometimes we do this minimally or innocently, sometimes maliciously, sometimes even naively but it happens. Daily. Hourly. It happens in highschools, it happens in workplaces, it happens in churches. We even compare our sins against each other.

And honestly that’s what I’ve been even doing this morning… I have felt my heart crying out to God… “grace even for them? Even for the KKK? God that is irrational grace.”      And that’s when it hit me.

Irrational Grace – grace that is not governed by human reasoning. Grace that is not bound to my limitness.

                                        Bold Grace. Radical Grace. Empowering Grace.

What I’ve learned through life is that people who live in hate and defensiveness often have no idea what grace looks like….

So I leave you with one more question… What do you think the world would look like if you and I could pour grace where hate has originally thrived?

Hate doesn’t have to win –  the change starts with grace…

 

** This blog post is in partnership with People of the Second Chance and their poster series Never Beyond.  “People of the Second Chance is a scandalous awakening of radical grace in life and leadership. We exist to overthrow judgment, liberate love and live a life that rebels with grace for everyone.”