Saving Grace - USA Network

This is, of course, a risk. Saving Grace has none of the Christian intent that the title suggests. Quite the opposite. Holly Hunter plays the part of Grace who is given a last chance angel, Earl, to help her force her way through her personal issues and find personal redemption.

 

That redemption is not a traditional Christian redemption in Jesus, but a pointedly pluralistic, highly existential redemption. No standard path is recommended or even considered necessary, though Grace's framework is definitely catholic. Her angel pushes her to acknowledge her need for inner healing in a reach for the end to her self-destructive bent.

 

That self-destruction takes most forms imagineable. The show is sexually explicit (as cable can make it). It shows Grace as manipulative and abusive. Her abuse is directed inward through alchoholism, alienation of family and shortcuts around the justice system that would get any real cop fired. Her language is saltier than most sailors'.

 

I do not recommend Grace for anyone under 18. It takes real maturity to see her sexual exploits for the grime that it is, and not to be simply titilated. However, a friend once told me that drama is a good medium to ask questions, not to give answers. Grace is an honest asking of the question, what role can religion play in personal redemption? Can it play any role at all? If you follow her clergy brother (with a focused and purposeful, though not fanatical calling), the answer would be a no. Perhaps, it is an acknowledgement that religion is very difficult to communicate within your own family. If you follow Earl though, you get a resounding yes, when the angel doesn't become a supernatural 12 step sponsor. He, as an angel, denies vehemently knowing God's thinking or reasoning, and constantly invites Grace to "ask Him." This is good. Even if we go through some religious wanderings in our path to God, it is always best to "ask Him."

I think I already wrote this review, and if I did, it was premature, I had not finished the book. Now I have.

 

As the commedian said, "Don't you hate it when you're trying to interrupt somebody and they just keep right on talking?" That's the way it is with A Generous Or+hodoxy. You keep thinking about how stringently you must take exception to McLaren and then remember that he is not in a debate but an exploratory discussion.

 

I keep thinking, yes but, The Bible is clear about Homosexuality. Or I believe Hell is real. Or, I'm not that green. But the spirit of Generosity demands that I do not polarize myself but enter my objections as part of the ongoing converstaion. Infuriating.

 

There is no doubt that some of the things McLaren presents as negotiable will not be accepted by many (have not been, I am severely behind in reading this book). Those who wish to firmly grip an orthodoxy that is final in its pronouncements will be disturbed by its open endedness. But the truth that we are all inevitably wrong about God in more ways that we are right must impose itself into our actions. We are a moment, He is eternal.

 

Coming to grips with a Generous Or+hodoxy and with the Emergent Movement in general (of which it is a seminal part) is difficult for those of us who are tied to traditions that we hate to admit are no more than one generation old and more mere preferences than we like to acknowledge. There are many with whom we must drastically disagree. However, if our acceptance of other Christian walks is to be anything but lip service, we must take a humbler approach to our own non-negotiables. It is wrapped up in a Person, not a proposition.

 

In spite of the places where I disagree, I like a Generous Or+hodoxy. It calls me to a kinder spirit, mostly intolerant of intolerance. McLaren does not demand that we give up our beliefs, only that we listen respectfully to others when they state theirs. It says, "If we all hold our theology more loosely, we can open our fists for others to see more clearly." At the same time, we feel less threatened when it is challenged.

 

Don't give up your dearly held beliefs, but speak with love to the person who disagrees. Recognize that they are on a sincere journey of faith as much as you, and their views have all the emotional and intellectual depth of yours. If that person will not listen respectfully to you, then let your peace return to you and keep looking for the generous and the honestly humble. We must all be so in the face of a generous and supreme God.