I read a troubling piece of research recently. It's indicated that Christians in the United States, especially we Protestants, when asked if we believed in the free gift of God's grace, doubted it. Seventy percent of us thought we had to do some work, some ritual or some exercise in a certain way to receive God's grace. Seventy percent of us thought we had to pass a test, to receive God's grace. Interestingly enough, the idea of free grace is a great Protestant principle.
Grace freely given for all people is our heritage.
It is freely given and may be freely received. Grace is free but discipleship is costly. One danger is that some of us, not knowing this grace, will decide we've got to hold on and do things as they've always been done. Or, others of us will only seek to do things in a new way. The original meal was never found.