(종교) Grace 은총이란 by 폴 틸리히

Grace

 

Grace strikes us when we are in great pain and restlessness.

 

It strikes us when we walk through the dark valley of meaningless and empty life.

 

It strikes us when we feel that our separation is deeper than usual, because we have violated another life, a life which we loved or from which we were estranged.

 

It strikes us when our disgust for our own being, our indifference, our weakness, our hostility and our lack of direction and composure(1) have become intolerable to us.

 

It strikes us when year after year, the longed for perfection of life does not appear, when the old compulsions reign within us as they have for decades, when despair destroys all joy and courage.

 

Sometimes at that moment a wave of light breaks into our darkness and it is as though a voice were saying:

 

“You are accepted. You are accepted.”

 

Accepted by that which is greater than you and the name of which you do not know. Do not ask for the name now; perhaps you will find it later. Do not try to do anything now; perhaps later you will do much. Do not seek for anything; do not perform anything; do not intend anything. Simply accept the face that you are accepted.

 

If that happens to us, we experience Grace. After such an experience we ma not be better than before and we may not believe more than before. But everything is transformed.

 

In that moment, Grace conquers sin, and reconciliation bridges the gulf of estrangement.

 

And nothing is demanded of this experience, no religious or moral or intellectual presupposition, nothing but acceptance.

 

In the light of this grace we perceive the power of grace in our relation to others and to ourselves. We experience the grace of being able to look frankly into the eyes of another, the miraculous grace of reunion of life with life; we experience the grace of understanding each other’s words.

 

Paul Tillich(2) ‘The Shaking of Foundation’ p. 63

 

Note

1. composure: to keep/recover/regain one’s composure: 마음의 평정을 회복하다.

2. 개신교 신학자