From the OED "grace, noun: ....(In Christian belief) the free and unmerited favor of God, as manifested in the salvation of sinners and the bestowal of blessings."
Yes, but how wholly incomplete and, especially grace as "bestowal of blessings" is, in my view, off key.
SPOILER ALERT: I'm doing my best to share my perspective, but this is one of those times where language seems to be so wholly inadequate as to be more constricting than helping, but here goes.
Grace begins because God offers us a relationship where we can have a (naturally and necessarily imperfect) familial journey of learning, healing, love, redemption, renewal, restoration, and rehabilitation which empowers us with God-given capacity to become what we were created to be, fulfill our purpose, come to know God in ever deepening love and service.
OK, that sounds pretty deep even as I write it. But I can't find any simpler way to explain (and even this is woefully inadequate) even in small part my experience as a soul seeking to follow the teachings of Christ in both belief and action (which should never be considered separately in matters of faith, even though they usually develop in leap-frog steps where deeper learning leads to more commitment to service which leads to deeper understanding and a desire to learn and study more which leads to...you get the idea. It is rather like an elegant waltz in the arms of our beloved Lord where love and action are deeply intertwined.
We seem to think of blessings as little gifts given by God, like health or wealth or a nice house or attending a good school or having a nice family, but then where does that leave folks who don't have those things? Do we infer that God offers them less grace?
So that is why to me grace is more of this (which is available to all in any location under any circumstances):
To the degree I am open to God, I am given all good things: gift of the Spirit, healing, comfort, maturing faith, confidence in God and my ability to serve God according to God's Will--this is all grace. And the circumstances of our life are part of the responsibilities and resources for sharing all the above with everybody else.
If you are a boss, your relationship with your workers reflects your relationship with God and looking at that can help us in conforming our life to our adopted God-ordained values. Same with family. Same with community. Same with folks we do business with.
So, spread grace around as you go about your day, be a healing, comforting, mature, confident, wise, kind child of God living as God grants us His Grace to share widely and freely.
Yes, but how wholly incomplete and, especially grace as "bestowal of blessings" is, in my view, off key.
SPOILER ALERT: I'm doing my best to share my perspective, but this is one of those times where language seems to be so wholly inadequate as to be more constricting than helping, but here goes.
Grace begins because God offers us a relationship where we can have a (naturally and necessarily imperfect) familial journey of learning, healing, love, redemption, renewal, restoration, and rehabilitation which empowers us with God-given capacity to become what we were created to be, fulfill our purpose, come to know God in ever deepening love and service.
OK, that sounds pretty deep even as I write it. But I can't find any simpler way to explain (and even this is woefully inadequate) even in small part my experience as a soul seeking to follow the teachings of Christ in both belief and action (which should never be considered separately in matters of faith, even though they usually develop in leap-frog steps where deeper learning leads to more commitment to service which leads to deeper understanding and a desire to learn and study more which leads to...you get the idea. It is rather like an elegant waltz in the arms of our beloved Lord where love and action are deeply intertwined.
We seem to think of blessings as little gifts given by God, like health or wealth or a nice house or attending a good school or having a nice family, but then where does that leave folks who don't have those things? Do we infer that God offers them less grace?
So that is why to me grace is more of this (which is available to all in any location under any circumstances):
To the degree I am open to God, I am given all good things: gift of the Spirit, healing, comfort, maturing faith, confidence in God and my ability to serve God according to God's Will--this is all grace. And the circumstances of our life are part of the responsibilities and resources for sharing all the above with everybody else.
If you are a boss, your relationship with your workers reflects your relationship with God and looking at that can help us in conforming our life to our adopted God-ordained values. Same with family. Same with community. Same with folks we do business with.
So, spread grace around as you go about your day, be a healing, comforting, mature, confident, wise, kind child of God living as God grants us His Grace to share widely and freely.
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