Grace and ambiguity

Posted by Paul | Filed under uncategorised

There’s a great article on Tim Keller at Christianity Today.

Here’s one particularly interesting paragraph

The gospel DNA of grace is crucial to Redeemer’s embrace of center-city culture. It gives people permission to try and fail, to mix freely with those of other faiths and morals, and to tolerate ambiguity. Someone who works in advertising or theater may have to serve for many years at projects he or she finds morally ambivalent. Even those who rise to positions of responsibility will find no clearly marked path. Without a grasp of grace, there will be no Christians working in such areas. Keller likes to describe Redeemer’s stance as “cultural presence,” which enhances flavor but doesn’t take over.

This crystalises something that has been floating in the back of my mind. One reason grace is so important (apart from the obvious) is because we live and work in a compromised world — a world in which we may come across situations in which there is no good answer, or we find ourselves in institutions with inherent moral ambiguity. Grace gives us space to act faithfully in a complex world.

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Permalink | June 11th, 2009

2 Responses to “Grace and ambiguity”

  1. jonnyjpg Says:
    jonnyjpg June 12th, 2009 at 10:44 am

    i love that.
    reminds me of the bit in the message "learn the unforced rhythms of grace"

    i like the idea of being free to try and fail

  2. jeremy andrews Says:
    jeremy andrews July 13th, 2009 at 11:24 pm

    I think it is all about being the salt of the earth in that we're mixed in.

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