Meditating on Proper 23: Given to Good Works

 

Proper 23

Collect: Lord, we pray that your grace may always precede and follow us, that we may continually be given to good works; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

Image by Grok

We see that word “grace” a lot in the life of the church. Most Christians say grace before meals, but there are some faith communities that say grace afterwards. I sometimes wonder which is the best way to offer grace: before in hopes it will improve the meal, or afterwards acknowledging that it was better than we had anticipated.

It probably doesn’t matter, but I was struck my today’s prayer in that we invoke God’s grace as something to go before us, like the pillar of cloud leading the children of Israel out of bondage, as well as to follow us, like a shepherd keeping an eye out for strays and stragglers.

I like this picture of God who walks before and behind us, who walks and stands beside us, hand in hand. It is an image of intimacy, love, protection, and comfort. But it’s not without purpose. It is the image of one who guides and directs, who confirms that we are not alone in life. We have a God who stands on the sidelines shouting out encouragement to all God’s children: “You can do it; you’re doing good; keep it up; I see you.”

This prayer reminds us we are to “continually be given to good works.” It’s not a start and stopping kind of thing. It’s a call to keep our eyes and ears open to opportunities to be of service. It’s really not hard. 

My wife and I stepped into the medical center for lab work the other day. We were moving more slowly  than I would like (but age does that). A young man was in the elevator and saw us coming. The elevator would be long gone before we got there, but the stranger stretched out his hand and held the car in place until we boarded it.

A smile. An outstretched hand. How hard was that? Not hard at all – for us or for him. “Which floor,” he asked, and punched the button. He even let us exit the elevator and get to the lab ahead of him. He was kinder than he needed to be, but then again, maybe he was one who knew he was to continually be given to good works, surrounded by God in front, back, and to the sides.

We need this prayer more than ever in this world of ours, where voices are more strident and opinions more divisive. We are more quick to speak than to listen. We are geared to listen in order to respond more than to understand. We are puffed up when we “win” or downcast when we “lose” the debate. We have fewer conversations and more arguments. We would rather convert (or destroy) our enemies than converse with them.

Today’s prayer reminds us we are called to continually be given to good works. Who really cares what our opinion is? What matters are our actions. When a drunk driver has an accident or kills someone, do we care whether or not they “intended” to do that? We are not judged by our intentions but by our actions. Accidents do happen, of course. When they do, we don’t ask people to ignore them. We acknowledge our part in what happened, make apologies (as appropriate), make amends, and then work to see that we don’t repeat whatever it was we did wrong. Those things are hard to do, but they are good works guided and directed by the Spirit.

We pray to God, asking the Holy One to help us do things that are good and holy. We ask God for grace to avoid doing things that harm others, or failing to do things that help others. Do we always get it right? Of course not. Again, we are not judged by our intentions but by our actions.

St. James was clear that it’s not enough to wish others well. As the old saying goes, spit in one hand and wish in the other and see which hand fills up first. While we generally think of Saint Paul as an advocate of “salvation by faith, not of works,” that is to misunderstand what Paul was saying. Saints Paul and James had their disagreements, but both know that faith is incomplete without a change in heart AND a change in behavior.

So let’s pray for the grace of God to lead us, push us, drag us along so that we might continually be given to do good works, and thank God for those opportunities that come our way. Meanwhile, hold the elevator, for we’re heading to the same floor! Peace.