An Analysis Of Chris Rice's Grace Matters

In his book Grace Matters, Chris Rice reflects on the close of his nearly 17-year investment into transformative friendship with Spencer Perkins. He writes, “From Mississippi, I would take the hope that people can grow and change, that descriptions of pain or joy at any one moment are only snapshots that only history really counts.” Many Christians involved in social justice work are familiar with the story of Spencer Perkins and Chris Rice, two believers working at interracial friendship in the context of ministry and community. A model on a national scale, the Rice-Perkins friendship demonstrated the possibilities of true commitment between distinctly different American Christians. The intentional friendship begun in 1981 and ended abruptly
His early reactions to Perkins as a militant who was decidedly unlikable are simultaneously paired with Rice’s unexplained desire to gain this “gruff, defiant, and confident” man’s approval. The story is a gripping account of the mystifying merging of two lives in such a way that Spencer Perkins’ passing brought with it a pain that in the beginning brought Chris Rice to his knees. When one considers the intensity of cross-cultural relationship the potential for wrongs to be committed is immense. As the title Grace Matters suggests, a ‘clearing of accounts’ by accessing God’s grace can be a radical step towards renewal. In his final assessment Rice write “The witness and experiences Spencer and I were given were surly not meant to die….Somehow, even with Spencer’s death, I believed that the idea of reconciliation itself would be enlarged. The old was passing, the new and unknown coming.
We have been told that in the final assessment there is hope for change; this story tells in intricate detail just how these two lives were remarkably