Title: Renewing Grace
Contents
Saegil Church was born 8 years ago to find a new direction and character of faith. First, in the latter half of the 1980s, a new way of operating the community was sought from a people-oriented church serving low-ranking people for the social and political role of the church, and second, from an institutionalized and systemized structured church to an open church centered on lay people. So, I wanted to be called the <Saegil> church.
At the heart of the Christian gospel is the invitation to salvation. Salvation means restoration of God's original creation. It means that man's relationship with God, the original being, is restored from the state of sin and the fall of his non-natural existence. God's hand that influences the whole process of salvation is what we call grace. God's grace is the source of the power that makes human salvation possible.
Religiously speaking, God's grace is the basis for our practical actions. It is that God's grace exists for our salvation before our plans and actions. So, because we live by this grace, human plans and actions are possible and motivating us to put them into practice. And when God's grace is with you in the whole process of your life of faith, it is possible to have an optimistic attitude based on grace that all things work together for good.
Let's visualize two scenes in stark contrast according to the Bible we read today. The first is the figure of a paralytic who is heteronomously carried on a stretcher with the help of a neighbor. The second is a picture of a paralytic who gets up, takes his seat, and goes home. The question is, what could have caused such a dramatic change of scene between these two scenes? That is, what is the secret that caused a qualitative shift between the two scenes.
It was a proclamation of the grace of Jesus, "Your sins are forgiven." The Lord did not say that you were healed, but that your sins were forgiven. Healing may heal paralysis, but we cannot know the grace of the Lord. The proclamation that your sins are forgiven is a declaration of ultimate human recovery that an unnatural being has become an original self, on a level of existence that is deeper than physical illness. Now, the paralytic has been cured not only of physical ailments, but of human beings as well. This is the secret of the gospel. It is the discovery of the work of God's grace toward mankind.
Fellow classmates! If the grace of the Lord is with us, our past sufferings, wounds, and tears can now become joy, comfort and joy. Although human beings are lacking, God's grace is large, wide, and deep enough to forgive our transgressions, blemishes, and sins.
The Bible never speaks of cheap grace. This grace is the grace of the cross, proclaimed on the cross, which transforms death into life. Now let's entrust all of us to the renewing grace of the Lord's renewing community. Let's wait for the 'renewing grace of God' on Advent, which marks the 95th year of the new year after 94 years. So, we will have a deeper spiritual relationship with God (koinonia), and we will confess that it is God's grace that we are transformed by that power.
Lastly, as you are invited to the sacrament of the Lord's Supper today, I hope that you will participate in faith in the mystery of life of sharing and serving. The Early Church has long practiced Eucharist (Holy Communion) and agape meal together. In the modern meaning of the Eucharist, I am reminded of the video of <Table Community> where the community shares life and faith together. It is also a religious symbol of communion and festivals. The basis for this is for religious reasons to commemorate the Lord's Last Supper. As we eat and drink the body and blood of the Lord, we also serve the Lord concretely. So it is an expression of religious participation in organically becoming a disciple of the Lord. The service of the Lord's Supper is also understood as a medium of grace.
Let us pray that we, who were like paralytics who were heteronomous, dependent, and afflicted with disease, will now be transformed into more mature beings that are autonomous, responsible, and under God's ?쐒enewing grace.