AfterWords | Name Your Stage and Find Grace There

A short read
by Brian Grasso

The message of the last two sermons at The Parish was that the early Church at Pentecost was reenacting the early ministry of Jesus. Both Church and Christ were blessed, then broken, then given “for the life of the world.”

As our pastor, Jordan, unspooled this framework, I thought of my own life story: God’s blessing, God’s breaking, and God’s giving of me to those He has called me to serve. I noticed that these three stages of formation have happened not just once but on repeat since I became a follower of Jesus.

Blessed with a clear sense of God’s love. Broken in a season of loneliness and longing for community. Given to a group of friends with empathy and hospitality and a calling to help build the community I long for. Blessed with a clear impression of God’s desire for justice for all who are made in His image. Broken by the hard, thorny work that mercy and justice entails. Given back to that work with newfound humility. Blessed by my family. Broken by my family. Given to my family. (Can anyone relate to this?) The cycle goes on.

Sometimes I conceptualize the Kingdom of God as a state of being. Are we living within the paradigms of the Kingdom of heaven or outside of them? Are our thoughts, behaviors, and interactions coherent with the Kingdom or not? There’s an element of truth to this way of thinking. But what if participation in the Kingdom of God is more dynamic than stagnant? What if we are, as God’s people, living in Kingdom stories, not just Kingdom states of being? What if to be a Christian is to be formed in the context of narrative, which means that God is ordaining the phases, stages, and changes?

If blessed, broken, and given are all common stages in the Christian journey (and, in my experience, stages that we cycle through over and over again), what stage do you find yourself in now?

I find myself in a season of extended wilderness, yet I want to will myself into a season of being “given.” I furiously want to be used by God. At the same time, I suspect that I won’t quite be ready to be used by God until I absorb the reality that life is not about being “used by God.” Life is about loving and enjoying God, dwelling in intimate fellowship with Him as we surrender to His will. I am uncomfortable with receiving the unearned blessing of God before I have proven my worth through my own efforts. And I, like nearly everyone, hate the experience of being broken, tempted, and humbled in the wilderness. I want to move on to the part where we followers of Jesus change the world for the better.

Instead of resisting the current stage of formation that we’re in, perhaps we can find the unique grace at work in the current moment. Here are some thoughts on what God may be doing in our lives in each of the stages.

Blessed. In these seasons, we experience the abundance of God spiritually and oftentimes tangibly as well. These are seasons of deep communion and fellowship with brothers and sisters in our faith. These are seasons filled with the grace of a sense of God’s love and favor, deep enjoyment of spiritual disciplines, and little to no anxiety. The grace of this season is to know that God is real and that He loves us, and to see His image in the faces of people in our lives.

Broken. In these seasons, we may experience scarcity and lack, whether spiritually, communally, or materially. This may go on for years as we learn the lesson of dependence. There is a breaking of ego, a breaking of pride, and perhaps even a breaking of self-confidence as we are driven to our knees in prayer and desperation. There may be anxiety that the breaking will never end, but the grace of this season is knowledge that God often uses suffering for redemption, humiliation for humility, and scarcity for intimacy. We learn the grace of true faith. In Hebrews 11, there’s praise for those who hold onto faith through suffering and adversity—“the world was not worthy of them.”

Given. These are seasons of action and ministry. They are where we engage something broken in the world and creatively rebuild. There are the graces of seeing Christ’s restoration in both spiritual and material realities and a closer walk with God as we obey the Holy Spirit’s leading. Healthy ministry isn’t oriented around the outcomes as much as it is about the process of walking where Christ leads. Still, we experience the grace of seeing God at work and the honor of having a role to play in his Kingdom coming.

I invite you to consider what stage most resonates with you in this season of life, and pray that the Lord would enable you to see the particular grace He has for you. The coming Kingdom is dynamic in our lives, and that’s okay. The King is constant in His love for us throughout all the seasons. He gives more grace.