Christian Life as a Journey and Dialogue

Christian life is a "going back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. That is to say, the Christian is simply caught within the dialogue between two voices with which God speaks: the accusing voice of the law and the accepting voice of the gospel. Hearing the law, he flees to the gospel. Hearing the gospel, he is freed to hear what the law requires. But hearing what he law requires, he must again flee to the gospel. Life is experienced as a dialogue between these two divine verdicts, and within human history one cannot escape that dialogue or progress beyond it." 

"Righteousness ... consists ... in becoming (throughout the whole of one's character) the sort of person God wills us to be and commits himself to the making of us. Picturing the Christian life as such a journey, we can confess our sin without thinking that the standard of which we fall short, in its accusation of us, must lead us to doubt the gracious acceptance by which God empowers us to journey toward his goal for our lives." 

"The image of the Christian life as journey makes place for the truth...that God intends to turn us into people who (gladly...) do his will. Yet by encouraging the pilgrim to concentrate on his own progress toward the goal, it also makes possible the twin dangers of presumption and despair. We may forget that the entire journey, empowered by grace, leaves no room for self-confidence or boasting. Or, seeing little progress, we may begin to doubt whether God really intends to do this for us. The image of the Christian life as dialogue stays close to a central truth about experience--that we are often unable to experience our lives as accepted by God and are, therefore, in constant need of hearing the renewing word of the gospel. Yet...by adhering..to...Christian experience, it may blur or ignore the distinction between God-pleasing service to the neighbor and activity which harms the neighbor." Gilbert Meilander (b. 1946), The Place of Ethics in the Theological Task. 1979.

For Luther "life is not the gradual development of a virtuous life; it is a constant return to the promise of grace. The examined life, if honestly examined, will reveal only that the best of our works are sin." Gilbert Meilander. Theory and Practice of Virtue.

The Hauerwas Reader. 2001, pg 84-86.