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14 The Word became a human and lived among us. We saw his glory—the glory that belongs to the only Son of the Father—and he was full of grace and truth. ... 16 Because he was full of grace and truth, from him we all received one gift after another [or, grace upon grace].
*St. John 1.14, 16 (NCV)
Wisdom Story
An estimated 500,000 tons of water rush over Niagara Falls each minute. March 29, 1948, the Falls stopped suddenly. Persons living within the sound of the Falls were awakened by the awesome silence. Many of them believed the event signified the world was coming to an end. The water rush resumed some thirty hours later.
Heavy winds had set in motion the ice fields of Lake Erie. Tons of ice jammed the Niagara River entrance near Buffalo and stopped the river flow until the ice shifted once more.
Comments
Grace is an energy, or Energy. The distinction between grace as an uncreate energy proceeding from within God Godself and grace as a created intermediary between the Divine and humans is described by Patrick Barnes, in The Non-Orthodox:
[T]he Orthodox [Church's] understanding of the nature of Grace is that it is the very energies of God Himself. Through the Trinitarian ministry of the Holy Spirit—a ministry involving both general and special activities—these energies are mediated to mankind. This stands in contrast to the Latin view [Roman Catholic] flowing mainly from the anti-Pelagian writings of Saint Augustine. For Roman Catholics, grace is a created intermediary between God and man.
The late and eminent Eastern Orthodox theologian Vladimir Lossky, in The Mystical Theology of the Eastern Church, addresses this distinction between the Eastern and Western churches, generally speaking:
Eastern tradition knows no ... supernatural order between God and the created world, adding, as it were, to the latter a new creation. It recognizes no distinction, or rather division, save that between the created and the uncreated. For [the] eastern tradition the created supernatural [example, grace in the Latin tradition] has no existence. That which western theology calls by the name of the supernatural signifies for the East the uncreated—the divine energies ineffably distinct from the essence of God.... The act of creation established a relationship between the divine energies and that which is not God.... [T]he divine energies in themselves are not the relationship of God to created being, but they do enter into relationship with that which is not God [i.e., His creation], and draw the world into existence by the will of God.
Grace is a manifesting of Godself, if not of God Godself, of God's being expressed as an uncreate Quality. Grace is not merely a static graciousness in attitude, such as saying that grace is undeserved favor toward us, as usually grace is defined in the Protestant Church. Such a static and attitudinal definition of any divine Aspect is contrary to Trinitarian thought, which sees the Godhead in dynamic, kinetic, synergistic, and interpersonal intimacy - intimacy-ing - within the Persons of God and, then, expressed outward into Nature.
Therefore, like the Niagara Falls, grace is an energy, or energying, animating us with a flowing, thriving, and abundant Life. Our resistance to grace, either by withdrawing our exposure to grace or through ungracious thoughts and actions, dams up the grace flow. This is felt like a freezing of grace. This is only a blocking of grace gracing, grace be-ing gracious to us, while grace itself remains gracious in Godself and any expression of gracing.
St. Theophan the Recluse (b. 1815) speaks of the undamming of grace gracing us, and how such turns us toward the Mystical within our Christian faith:
Thus, for arousal of the slumbering spirit within man and the leading of it to contemplation of the divine way, divine grace either 1) directly acts upon it, and, in carrying out its power, gives the opportunity to break the bonds that hold it, or 2) indirectly acts on it, shaking the layers and meshes off of it and thereby giving it the freedom to assume its rightful position. The divine grace that is everywhere-present and fills all things directly inspires the spirit of man, impressing thoughts and feelings upon it that turn it away from all finite things and toward another better, albeit invisible and mysterious world.
*Seraphim Rose, St. Herman of Alaska Brotherhood, Ed. The Path to Salvation.
Therefore, spiritual practice, or means of grace, are means to keep the flow of grace gracing within us and through us. If we are faithful to our spiritual intent and consent, validated and made operational through spiritual practice, we will undergo an increasing turn of heart and mind, or thought and affection, to the mysteries of the Christian faith. Also, our understanding of Christian teaching we had believed in will undergo a deeper, richer unfolding of meaning, beyond what we dreamed could occur.
Reflection
How might the above understanding of grace gracing influence your thought of your relationship with God? Your experience of God? Other divine Qualities you express as being experienced as or through God?
For replies and biographical information, and submission to "The Light Shines" daily devotionals ~ a ministry of Christ Community United Methodist Church, Punta Gorda, FL, see next page:
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