Karma vs. Grace

By Timothy Merrill @ http://tmerril.blogs.com/

Britney Spears has just shed a life-style accessory--her husband--in a well-publicized split. She's also not been seen with her other accessories--her children. Right now, it's all about Britney Spears.

Well, I guess it's always been about Britney Spears.

I only bring this up because earlier this year, Spears had her baby boy blessed in a Malibu Hindu temple--a blessing that kid's going to need if he travels much with his mom in her SUV.

And then there's the hit TV show, "My Name is Earl" where "Earl" is a guy with a laundry list of wrongs that need to be made right in order to korrect his karma.

The eastern religions are getting so much space these days that USA Today devoted a lead article to the subject recently in which they cite critics who say that what we're seeing in the culture is Hindu Lite and diet dharma.

Now this isn't a rant against Hinduism, because in the Homiletics material coming up for this Sunday, the rant is against what some have called Christianity Lite, those who follow a diet Jesus.

The Hebrews text is about how we can have grace for the journey, grace in forgiveness, process and community. It's not easy to be a hard-core Christian, but it's not hard either. When we understand grace.

The Homiletics piece closes with a citation from Bono in the book Bono: In Conversation. Read this quotation slowly and carefully. It's intense. The lead singer for U2 notes the difference between karma and grace: "It's a mind blowing concept that the God who created the universe might be looking for company, a real relationship with people, but the thing that keeps me on my knees is the difference between grace and karma ... What you put out comes back to you: an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, or in physics, every action is met by an equal or an opposite one. It's clear to me that karma is at the very heart of the universe. I'm absolutely sure of it. And yet, along comes this idea called grace to upend all that 'as you sow, so shall you reap' stuff. Grace defies reason or logic. Love interrupts, if you like, the consequences of your actions, which in my case is very good news indeed, because I've done a lot of stupid stuff ... It doesn't excuse my mistakes, but I'm holding out for grace. I'm holding out that Jesus took my sins onto the cross, because I know who I am, and I hope I don't have to depend on my own religiosity."

"I'm holding out for grace..." I LOVE that line. There's more in Homiletics for the epistle text for this Sunday. Work with the material and make it your own. It will preach.