Section 163:10ab
Be Vulnerable to Divine Grace

For Further Reflection and Discussion

1. Barbara Howard quotes C.S. Lewis, who wrote, “To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly be broken.” How have you experienced the connection between loving and being vulnerable—perhaps even becoming broken in the process?

2. Lines from the well-known hymn, “There Is a Balm in Gilead” (Hymns of the Saints, No. 147), are used throughout this commentary. In what ways is this hymn connected to the topic of becoming vulnerable?

3. The author used an experience with her then-teenage daughter in recalling that their friend, Helen, “with or without words, was grace.” Who has been grace in your life? What glimpse might that provide in understanding the concept of “divine grace”?

4. What does the phrase “dark night of the soul” mean to you? If, as the author points out, “every human being walks through dark nights of the soul,” why do we tend to keep such moments hidden from others? How have you or others emerged from such times?

5. Read the story of Jesus’ encounter with Zacchaeus (see Luke 19:1–10). What does this scripture passage tell you about both characters? In what ways did Zacchaeus change? How was it possible for him to change?

6. Marjorie Suchocki wrote that “we can never regard the community apart from the gifts it has received and internalized from God.” How does being a part of a community of faith change the conversation about being vulnerable and accepting grace? Why does it sometimes make growing and changing even more difficult?

7. Noted theologian Karl Barth is quoted: “Grace and gratitude belong together like heaven and earth. Grace evokes gratitude like the voice an echo. Gratitude follows grace like thunder lightning….” Why might it be noteworthy that the original Greek words for each term—charis and eucharista—have the same origin?

8. The author concludes that grace “frees us to love those who think or act differently from us.” When has that happened to you? If you are comfortable doing so, share your experience in more detail.
    

Discernment Activity

“You are loved with an everlasting love…. God yearns to draw you close….” These truths remain constant in every aspect of our lives. Divine grace breaks in without our conscious intention. It is freely given and not bound by our will. It delights in our faithful response but continues to flow toward us even when we stray, ready to renew, heal, and empower us. Divine grace provides the foundation on which we lead faithful lives. Our prayer practices do not make divine love and grace flow more freely toward us; our prayers enable us to choose to be vulnerable to the grace already given.

Silent prayer is one way to choose vulnerability. It is a wordless, open, receptive time in which we require nothing, ask nothing, expect nothing. We simply rest in God with trust and readiness.

Find a quiet space to sit in silence. Close your eyes and breathe normally, allowing your breath to move you into deeper silence. With each in-breath imagine you are breathing in God. With each out-breath, release those things no longer needed.

Breathing in: receiving. Breathing out: releasing.

You may choose a sacred word to represent your intention to consent to God’s presence and action in you. Simply repeat that word slowly and gently until it drops away and you are resting freely in God. As distractions come in (and they will) simply return to the word to offer yourself once again to God. During your prayer, the word can just disappear into the silence. Remain in the silence at least ten minutes; twenty minutes is better if you can manage it. When your prayer time has ended, remain in silence for a couple of minutes and then offer a word of gratitude for the time together with God.

Having received the touch of divine love and grace, move into the rest of your day. Let this sense of Presence stay with you as long as possible. Let your imagination flow back over this time as you encounter the events of your day. God’s grace remains available. Let yourself be open to receive.

—Discernment activity by Donna Sperry