What does grace mean?

The following are excerpts from the website of Japanese artist Makoto Fujimura. You can visit his website and read the entire essay entitled Images of Grace by clicking his link in the side bar of my blog under Christian Art.

…He asked me, "What does grace mean? Can you explain it to me so I can relay your thoughts to other curators?" I have to fax back to him and tell him that there is not really an appropriate Japanese word for it. There are words similar to grace, but nothing that conveys its full meaning. Then when I thought about the word "grace" in English, I realized that we do not fully understand the word either. Often this word seems "Hallmark" sweet. I have, in the past two years as I prepared for this show, delved deeper into the meaning of this word and found the word to be both practical and complex. Such a search allows us to ask some of the most important questions in life. An artist strives to get at the essence of things; whether they be trees, experiences, flowers or landscapes. The more one understands what this word has to offer in its depth, its reality, the more one realizes how much we do not understand or grasp. You can only get at an infinitesimal portion of this great reality. I have tasted this bittersweet reality of what grace means. This is a heavenly word; it forces us to seek the transcendent, but at the same time this word affirms earthly reality as it is, sometimes grim, sometimes glorious.

…Later, Paul repeats his poetic language to describe his experience at Damascus. He writes in the letter to the Ephesians, "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God--not by works, so that no one can boast." He goes on to say, "For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God has prepared in advance for us to do." "Workmanship" in Greek is "poiema" from which we get the word "poem." Notice the curious contradiction there; Paul starts out saying that everything is by grace, grace is a gift, 100% God's gift and then he turns around and says, "For you are God's workmanship," we are God's artworks. But it is only by God's grace that we can become God's artworks.

Paul's experience must have been like the [see his painting "Grace Foretold"] cascading gold of grace. For some, the experience of grace comes very slowly, imperceptibly, like the golden line of "River Grace--Red" [another of his paintings]. Yet, when the line is drawn, because of the unique power of gold, the line dominates the whole. I try not to add anything to my paintings unless it changes the whole. In fact, that's how I know that I have finished the work—when I give up because anything I do will be superfluous. I think this principle applies to our lives. We always try to have these Band-Aids on our hearts; we always try to fix this and that, a little here a little there. What needs to happen, just as I try to do in the painting, is a stroke, a line that changes our entire being. Our entire selves will be made new, different. The prophet Ezekiel, with God speaking through him, says "I will give you a new heart, put a new spirit in you."

My wife experienced grace in this manner about ten years ago through a simple understanding of the Ephesians verse I quoted before, "By grace you have been saved." Before that she was like the man trying to climb up the silver thread, afraid that it might break. She understood for the first time that grace had nothing to do with that; it was something that God had already prepared for her. Since it is God's grace, like the golden line, it will never change. So she rested her heart on this truth that instead of trying to live up to a supposed standard that God had set for her, she would invite him to live her life through her.

I noticed a difference in her being. I noticed the way she treated the Bible differently. She began to see it not as a book of law but as a love letter. So I was surprised by this—I thought I always knew more than her. I used to always try to quiz her about what she knew of biblical history although I did not for sure consider myself a Christian. My wife had invited me to attend church with her and, being a typical artist, I did not like going a church. An artist dislikes anything institutional. I went just to please her. Once there, though, I met many people my own age, who shared their struggles with me, but also their passion and commitment to this Jesus of Nazareth. I understood commitment. I used to measure people against their commitment to their identity, perhaps because I was so proud of my commitment to my own art.

…as my art became a treasure, something I wanted to hold onto, it enslaved me rather than freed me. What was happening was that I didn't want to let go, to lose control, even though my control was not over my life only over my works. I had to be willing to be shown that I was marching against the Creator God himself.

To love is to die—it's a simple way of defining love. I found myself completely surprised that these words of a 18th century poet and artist [William Blake] had exactly the same message as 20th century Christians, those church friends of mine, were trying to share with me. This parallel, this connection, this agreement had profound significance for me—penetrated my heart. Something moved within me; in my heart, my allegiance was then transferred from Art to Christ that day.

As I reflect on this today, using this theme of grace, my life parallels this painting. I have come to understand something unique about grace. It is not silver, it is golden. It comes into your life—in my case, almost invisibly and I'm sure for some of you it comes as dramatically as in Paul's case. In my case, I understood the word grace, and understood that this thread of grace was running throughout history, and that Christ 2,000 years ago on that hill at Calvary was thinking of me and that he wanted to show me how I could reconcile the schism I found in my heart that resulted from a greater schism between my heart and God's heart.

Paul writes in the book of Colossians of the Messiah. "He is the image of the invisible God. The first born over all of creation. For by him all things were created. Things in heaven and in earth, visible and invisible. Whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities, all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things and in him all things hold together. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood shed on the cross."

…When I got married, I did not want more than one child for fear that I would not be able to support children as an artist. I was afraid of losing control of my life. But for us, having children meant in faith trusting God to provide, and responding to God's grace poured out in our lives. We now have three children. I have certainly lost control. You see, I would never have had the experience at Niagara with C.J. [one of his kids] apart from our decision to trust God with our lives. This decision, like the origin of the falls, then a singular decision based on our response to God's grace, now has literally multiplied to define my life in a greater way. I would not have this exhibit apart from my grace experience. None of these paintings would be here. Each painting, the gold, silver, precious minerals, testify to God's gracious provision for us in these past years. The extravagance of the materials used only contrasts the poverty of my heart. Again, if I take the glory of the substance seen to be of my own glory, I know my heart will be crushed. If I take on the glory of my children and my wife on my own strength, I will fail miserably. I am like Jean Valjean, whose life has been touched by grace; my work of art are my candles. They are God's Images of Grace.