“What is Grace?”

How Cultural Stories and Myths Can Help Us Make Sense of the Jesus Way

Uncle Zack, “What does grace mean?”

My niece asked me this outside as we sat on the grass to play.

“What a wonderful question!” I said (while quietly saying “help me” to God).

I sorted through the file cabinets in my mind for theological definitions.

“Let me see,” I said (while sending another quiet prayer like a flare, “What would help her, Lord?)."

I thought back through our day together. A moment came to mind.

“Ah, yes, do you remember earlier when we all watched the movie Moana together?”

“Yes!” she said. “I do!”

“Do you remember that scene when the bad one, that large fiery creature of darkness who had done so much wrong, was towering over Moana? What was its name?”

“Te Fiti!”

“Yes, Te Fiti. Do you remember that Moana did something different instead of punishing or shunning, attacking or killing Te Fiti for all the wrong she had done? Do you remember what she did?”

"Yes," said my niece. "Moana was nice to Te Fiti.”

“That’s right,” I said.

“But if we think about it,” I continued, “Moana did even more than just being nice. Moana pursued Te Fiti through many trials and difficulties. ‘I have crossed the horizon to find you,’ she said. Then Moana saw beyond all that was dark and ugly, saying, ‘I know your name!’ Looking at all the wrong Te Fiti had done, Moana declared, ‘This does not define you!’ And then, Moana replaced the empty dark with a new heart again. Te Fiti was changed, and all the evil flame in her life turned green again. That’s like God’s grace. Instead of treating us as we deserve, God comes to find us. God reminds us of our true name. He tells us that our wrongs do not have to define us. He makes a way to give us a new heart and a recovered life. That’s grace."

My niece said, “Cool.” Then she and Aunt Jessica skipped inside to play. I stood up and kicked a ball which started the rest of us giggling and running.

Is this Apologetics?

Someone might say, “this doesn’t sound like apologetics.”

"Yes," I'd say. "We usually think of apologetics as using philosophy, reason, and logic to defend Christianity. But what if that's only part of it?" What if, to coin a phrase from Jerram Barrs, there are "echoes of Eden," ripples of the original true story speaking with faint voice in the canyons of our cultural myths and stories?

“But Moana tells a story about goddesses and magic," says another. “It’s a myth, and it isn't even a true story, and it isn't Biblical."

"I know," I say. "But when a story isn’t factual or literal, can't it still tell us something true? Like when Jesus says that he is a door. We know his statement isn’t physically factual. Jesus isn’t a wooden door hinged and framed somewhere in a Jerusalem house. His statement isn’t a literal fact, but the metaphor Jesus uses still tells us the truth.

Isn’t this why Jesus can describe God like a shepherd, a woman seeking a coin, a father with two sons? Could this be why the Apostle Paul can quote the poetry of a person who is not a Christian and yet by that non-Christian poetry still say a true thing?”(Acts 17:28)

“But you didn’t tell your niece all the proper theological statements about grace," another says. “You left so much out.”

“Yes,” I’d say. “There is so much more to say to an eleven-year-old, not just about grace but about all of life in God’s world. But who of us can learn all of life in one moment? Isn’t our learning more like traveling three years on the road with Jesus? We understand a little bit here and then again there. We scratch our heads. We ask more questions. We meditate on what he says.

My niece’s question about grace is just one piece of an ongoing puzzle of questions she will ask throughout her life. What a gift to join her in this small moment as she looks at the box cover, the gospel picture she is trying to make sense of. Piece by piece, little by little, we ask questions and give answers. We might see which ones fit and which ones don't or must wait until more of the picture grows visible. Even after we believe Jesus, following him involves each day of life and love, questions, play, and talk while sitting on the grass or watching a movie.

That night we ate dinner together. Maybe we ate food from In-N-Out. We loved the fries, and we said so. In a little while, we'd play the game "Throw Your Burrito.” In a little bit, we’d forgive amid competition. Then we’d laugh and laugh.

But for now, it was time to eat. Before we ate. We prayed.

More pieces of a grace picture we are gradually puzzling together.