U2 and Grace

Grace makes beauty out of ugly things

From U2's song Grace

KARMA is the notion we all get what we deserve. If that's reality, we're all screwed.

As Mohandas Gandhi said, if the concept of a tooth for a tooth and an eye for an eye was real, the world would be toothless and blind.

At the opposite end of the spiritual spectrum is grace -- God's gift for the undeserving. It's a gift of love that can take us by surprise. 

Grace is the notion God gives us what we don't deserve. And doesn't give us what we do deserve.

It's radical and shocking for many people because it upsets the ``natural'' balance in which we believe something good we have done in our lives merits the good things that come our way.

It also encourages the thought that those who act badly can get off the hook too easily. It sounds like a miscarriage of justice.

Then again, if something like karma is powerful, we are captive from birth by the hand dealt to us from a celestial pack of cards.

The Hindus were the first to believe in karma -- the concept that everything we do and say, good or bad, is a sort of energy force whose effects will be felt some day.

From a Christian point of view, it is not the major factor in our lives.

God's grace, if we let it in, cancels every debt; every shameful thing in our lives.

Grace is free, but it's not cheap. It works best when we acknowledge the source.

It is how we react to the causes and effects of life that matter most. Our destiny in the divine comedy is in our hands.

At a British conference on comparative religions in the 1950s, experts from around the globe were discussing whether any one belief was unique to Christianity.

Other religions had versions of God appearing in human form. As for resurrection, some had accounts of people returning from death.

The debate reached a stalemate before C.S. Lewis walked into the room and was asked what he thought was Christianity's unique contribution.

``Oh that's easy,'' Lewis said. ``It's grace.''

After some discussion, the conference delegates agreed.

The doctrine of karma, the Islamic Code of Law, the Jewish covenant and the Buddhist eightfold path offer ways to earn heavenly approval and eventual eternal happiness. Only Christianity offers a no-strings-attached view of salvation withGod's unconditional love.

Life is not fair, thank God, because it's rooted in grace.

Bono, the frontman of U2, expressed his preference for God's grace over karma.

``At the centre of all religions is the idea of karma,'' Bono said.

`You know, what you put out comes back to you.

``And yet, along comes this idea called grace to upend all that. 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 on to the cross, because I know who I am and I hope I don't have to depend on my own religiosity.

``It's a mind-blowing concept that the God who created the universe might be looking for a real relationship with people, but the thing that keeps me on my knees is the difference between grace and karma.''

The notion of God's love coming to us free of charge, no strings attached, seems to go against every instinct of humanity.

Other noble religious traditions promise some sort of peace, detachment from striving and release from the suffering of the world. Christianity, in contrast, teaches that grace is found in the worst of our suffering,

The U2 song Grace depicts grace as a beautiful woman who creates music wherever she goes. It is the contradiction of karma.

Grace is hard to believe. It says there is nothing we can do to get right with God, but that God has made himself right with us.

Maybe we don't deserve grace, but it's there anyway and this is how we survive most of our human disasters. As the poet Alice Abrams said, in life as in the dance, grace glides on blistered feet.