PCA Conversations

Seattle is beautiful and we know it.  The city, set on the edge of the Puget Sound with the Olympic and Cascade Mountains to the west and east, provides unmatchable aesthetic satisfaction.  Lake Washington and Lake Union weave themselves throughout the city for the non-salt water enthusiasts, providing space for both house and sail boats.  And, of course, we can’t forget about Mount Rainer sitting in the distant southern horizon resembling some Bob Ross painting.  However, our city’s beauty extends past the natural into the cultural and commercial.  From grunge’s poster children Pearl Jam and Nirvana to today’s rising stars Death Cab for Cutie and Fleet Foxes, Seattle is home to some of the most imaginative music.  Not convinced?  Do you like coffee?  I am not talking about the gas station special blend but full body French roast with hints of caramel and blueberries.  Thank you Seattle for changing our country’s outlook and experience of coffee.  Finally, Seattle’s beauty extends commercially, as it is home to some of the world’s leading and most influential companies  – Boeing, Amazon, Expedia, and, of course, Microsoft.   

Yet, Seattleites seem to have a sneaking suspicion that whatever natural, cultural, or commercial splendor surrounds them, it is simply not enough.  Understand that Seattle is a destination city and a particular destination city at that.  People move here from all over the country not necessarily to make it but rather to be caught-up in the beauty with the hope that life, with all its disappointments and strained relationships, will get better or, at worse, be forgotten.  But after some days, one comes to realize that although there is much grandeur in this place, it does not deliver the salvation they were looking for.  This unlikely mingling of pride and discontentment is far reaching into the life and culture of Seattle, particularly Capitol Hill where Grace Seattle is located, and proposes both opportunities and barriers to the Gospel.  I will mention one barrier.  Morality.  

Seattleites, though adhering to a different moral code than say that of the Bible Belt, are moral people. Recycle, love your community, be authentic, vote Democrat, be authentic, watch films not movies, dress ironically, don’t honk at the car in front of you, let pedestrians cross the street, eat organic, don’t get too visibly angry, care for those who are yours, be nice, and treat everyone with respect – do these, and it will go well with you.  And Seattleites are fiercely faithful to these commandments, more so, it seems, than the Church is to God’s.  Certainly, there is an inherent goodness to many of these rules. However, what is unique is the result: good people and good neighbors whose individual and collective faithfulness often prevents one from seeing their need of a Savior and furthers Seattle’s quality of life over and beyond any discontentment one may feel or experience.  In other words, the salvation offered is good enough and certainly better than that of any other city or way of life.    

Through Gospel-centered preaching, relationships, worship, and ministries, Grace Seattle works to confront the moral arrogance and discontentment and offer another way to live.  Week in and week out, we tell the Gospel and how it changes everything.  The Gospel creates new people whereas the Seattle moral code makes good people.  The Gospel offers righteousness as a gift whereas every other system demands it must be earned. The Gospel gives hope whereas looking to nature, culture, business to make things better results in frustration and cynicism.   The Gospel levels the playing field.  We are all rebellious and broken and being better does not negate one’s need of the salvation brought by faith in Jesus Christ. 

The result: Lives change.  Not overnight but rather in time, we see people believe more and more that God, through faith in Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection on their behalf, loves and forgives them which serves as the motivation to love God and neighbor.  To hear some of these stories of changed lives, take a look at a short film we made about God’s work in our community.  Please take a moment, watch, and rejoice with us in God’s great work.  It can be found at  HYPERLINK “http://www.graceseattle.org” www.graceseattle.org.   

“Ministry in Seattle”

by Michael Subracko

Associate Pastor, Grace Seattle