Jimmy Carter vs. cheap grace

I've read a bit during the week now past about a marathon non-stop revival in progress at Asbury University, a self-proclaimed Christian institution in Wilmore, Kentucky --- southwest of Lexington. 

Thanks in large part to social media, the event has attracted the attention of both seekers and media types who portray it as an extraordinary gathering of repentance, confession, prayer and worship.

Just like the good old days, some have declared.

And then over the weekend, the Carter Center announced that President Jimmy Carter, now 98, has opted for hospice care at home in Georgia as his amazing life winds down.

So on the one hand you have thousands gathering in Kentucky for a feels-good event that probably will fit into Dietrich Bonhoeffer's definition of "cheap grace" --- in this instance, grace without discipleship --- when all is said and done and the pilgrims have returned to their homes.

And on the other, you have the example of a man who  lived as a disciple, ministering to the poor and standing with the outcast.

Godspeed.