Common Grace: How to Be a Person and Other Spiritual Matters

Anthony Robinson had so many "other" ways to look at how one might think about scripture, grace and many daily experiences. Thank you, Anna, for recommending I read it.

There are many good and important insights in Tony Robinson's book, but one of the most helpful is the notion that there are no easy answers to our faith questions, our relationships with others, and the current social issues that often divide us - - and that's OK. This slim book of short essays is packed with humor, wisdom, and hope, the product of a thoughtful observer who knows how to both write and think with refreshing clarity and shrewdness. Are you a parent? Check out the chapters on parenting and "hyper-parenting." Are you weary of the regular push-and-pull debates over "conservative" versus "liberal" Christianity? Robinson's essays don't take sides, and they offer wonderful insights on such topics as forgiveness, blessings, grace, and suffering. And if you are concerned about some of the social and political issues that have sharply divided Americans in recent (and not so recent) years, you'll find engaging and original suggestions for thinking about those questions. For example, do we regard ourselves as citizens (who participate in a democratic process) or taxpayers (who simply pay because we're told to)? The author tackles these and many other topics in an accessible and generous spirit.

The hunger and thirst for the depths of the spiritual dimension to life goes on within and without the life of formal religious expression. And this book is for both. Those within the religious community will find in Robinson's essays a simple deepening of understanding of the profound encounters of the holy that may sometimes be lost in the more structured world of religion. And then they may return to that life with a renewed sense of the holy. Those outside the structured religious community will discover the grace that is common to all human life. God has not restricted access to holiness, but offers this grace to all who, either in despration or hope, have ears to hear. These essays touch on grand theological themes without an authoritarian insistence on theological dogma or ethical conformity. Still, Robinson has an abiding respect for these ancient treasures kept, as it were, in the earthenware and therefore fragile jars of the church. Robinson is a pastor within the Christian tradition, but he wishes for that great wealth of simple wisdom to be available to all who seek after it. So, what is it, this grace thing? He writes in a letter to his 14 year-old daughter, Laura, "Christianity is a religion of grace. It is not a religion of virtue, nor a religion of rules.... A religion of grace says, 'God loves you--that's the given. Because God loves you, act as if you are beloved.' Grace comes first." So it does.

This is a wonderful book full of engaging stories. Unlike a lot of books I've read on spiritual subjects, Anthony Robinson does not come off preachy or even like he considers himself at all spiritually enlightened. The stories are each like sitting down to coffee with someone who's just a normal guy who's willing to share his life experience with you. I would recommend this book to anyone, especially if someone is going through a rough time emotionally. It is a comforting and hopeful book. It is also a nice, even-handed look at the religion of Christianity without judgment or preachiness and without an agenda to convert the reader.