One of the “goose bumps” moments from last month’s Memorial Service:
Amazing grace! How sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me!
I once was lost, but now am found;
Was blind, but now I see.
A slave trader in a shipwreck cries out in desperation. His life is not only spared, it is totally transformed.
A half remembered fragment of a song: Grace by Which I Stand
A thought that bubbles to the surface when I see pictures of rubble: “There but for the Grace of God was I”
Through many dangers, toils and snares,
I have already come;
’Tis grace hath brought me safe thus far,
And grace will lead me home.
My memory niggles at a sermon I heard two years ago. “The Grace of the Lord Jesus Christ”. There was something profound there, something important, but I can’t remember enough of it. Nor is the MP3 available on the web.
Grace. How do I explain Grace to my child? or myself? The old Sunday School definition: Grace is the gift given un-earned and un-deserved. It seems to simplistic. I sense something deeper within my spirit, something more.
Grace is about Restoration, Healing, Forgiveness, Transformation, Love, Hope and Life.
But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
and by his wounds we are healed.
Grace was iron nails and a wooden cross. Grace was darkness and earthquakes and a curtain torn open. Grace was suffering, torture, grief and separation. And Grace is resurrection.
’Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,
And grace my fears relieved;
How precious did that grace appear
The hour I first believed!
This post has been very disjointed, because my thoughts have been disjointed. All these ideas are swirling around a gravity well* of something massive, something Significant and Important, that I can’t quite perceive or comprehend.
Grace. Amazing Grace.
Yeah, grace is one of the hardest concepts to get the hang of. I know I haven't.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the blog roll add. You're on mine too.
Anita