Religion and grace

"In church the other Sunday, I was intent on a small child turning around smiling at everyone. He wasn't gurgling, spitting, humming, kicking, tearing the hymnals, or rummaging through his mother's handbag. He was just smiling. Finally, his mother jerked him about and in a stage whisper that could be heard in a little theater off Broadway said,
"Stop that grinning! You're in church!"
With that, she gave him a belt and as the tears tolled down his cheeks added,
"That's better," and returned to her prayers....

Suddenly I was angry. It occurred to me the entire world is in tears, and if you're not, then you'd better get with it. I wanted to grab this child with the tear-stained face close to me and tell him about my God. The happy God. The smiling God. The God who had to have a sense of humor to have created the likes of us...By tradition, one wears faith with the solemnity of a mourner, the gravity of a mask of tragedy, and the dedication of a Rotary badge.

What a fool, I thought. Here was a woman sitting next to the only light in our civilization- the only hope, our only miracle- our only promise of infinity.
If he couldn't smile in church, where was there left to go?"
-Erma Bombeck (in What's so amazing about grace? by Philip Yancey)

The tragedy of contemporary Christianity is despite the radical truth about grace it carries, followers adulterate the message of the Cross with worldly legalism and self-righteousness. The world continues to cry for grace and a love that is beyond man's limited capacity to give while elitism creeps into the religious circles.

What a sobering reminder to me... that we, who have the truth and the gift of grace, are capable of betraying the people who need them the most. Non-conformity, if not balanced with grace and a heart for the people can easily turn into religious exclusiveness. If we serve a God of grace, we must be people of grace.