So what does this mean? Let’s take ice as an example. Ice is cold, frozen, and brittle. It can remain by itself, or in the company of other ice, but that is the form it will remain in. When we act like ice, we are cold, frozen and brittle as well. Our lives are not open to the creative force and power of the Spirit. Our lives do not reflect the all encompassing love of God. Our lives are not enhanced by the life giving gifts of Christ. Now let’s look at water. Water flows. In nature, it is the powerful force in rivers, streams and oceans. It provides life to the plants and animals that live in it. Water can take many shapes and can change forms. It can be boiled or frozen. It can be still and calm, or raging and fierce. Water can expand or condense. When our lives are like water, we “go with the flow”, we allow ourselves to be led in life giving and life producing ways. As the song goes, “The ocean refuses no river”…God never refuses us.
When we start off as ice, we have a choice. We can try to remain ice…preserve our life the way it’s always been, unaffected by those around us. Or we can join the water and be open to transformation…we can at once enjoy the life giving water and be a part of that life giving water to others. This is what it means to lose your life in order to save it.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the German theologian, talked about this in terms of the cost of discipleship. To be a follower of the Messiah, as Peter identified Jesus, comes with a cost. It is not an easy road, but one which requires sacrifice. Bonhoeffer explained this using the terms “cheap grace” and “costly grace”. “Cheap grace” is about going through the motions…saying your prayers out of obligation instead of from a sense of desired relationship with God, attending church because it’s what’s expected of you, forgiving someone because it’s a general truth in the conception of Christianity. It’s the easy way. It’s a way of maintaining your “ice” identity, without fully engaging discipleship. But “costly grace” is more demanding. It means allowing yourself to be transformed and changed. It means not just hearing the Gospel message to love your neighbor as yourself, but living and proclaiming the Gospel. It means welcoming the stranger, feeding the hungry, clothing the naked. Grace is costly because it compels us to act as Christ in the world. “Costly grace” is about participating in the living water; losing your life in order to save it.
If we’re honest with ourselves, we’ll admit that we have at times participated in cheap grace, trying to hold on to our identities as ice. Let’s face it, it’s easy at first. But over time, it’s lonely. Life as ice isn’t warmed by the love of Jesus. Life as ice can become meaningless and bitter. When we’re willing to let go of our small ego self, and choose to become disciples, to follow Jesus, to lose our lives, then we join the bigger life, the ever changing and transforming life of the Kingdom. It’s risky and it’s wonderful.
Before you receive communion, ask yourself if you’re willing to gain through losing. Do you want to hold on as ice, or do you want to be part of the life giving water?