Grace

Grace comes in many forms. God’s creation and providence are channels of God’s grace. God’s Holy Spirit reaches out to us in grace before we are even aware of what God might be or how we might relate to God. Grace is the generous love of God that makes up for our human shortcomings, and it is essential for true Christian ministry. As a Catholic sister reminded me once, “God doesn’t call the equipped, God equips the called."

I was getting ready to preach my second sermon of the year at my field education site, and I wasn’t feeling certain about the sermon at all. It was written out, ready to be preached, but I still didn’t feel right about it. There was no thesis. The topic was controversial. I had skimped on theology... My doubts went on and on. I prayed feverishly as the service began. Somehow, though, when the time came to stand up and speak, I was ready. Later, a congregant thanked me for what I’d said. She told me about a connection she made with my sermon that I could never have predicted. God’s grace was active in all this – in calming my fears, in preparing the congregation, and in making that spontaneous connection that allowed my parishioner to grow in her own faith and understanding. To borrow from the apostle Paul, God’s strength was made manifest in my weakness.

God’s grace is also God’s willingness to make up for our sins and shortcomings. Dietrich Bonhoeffer warns against what he calls “cheap grace,” in which we take God’s grace for granted. As Bonhoeffer suggests, the purpose of God’s grace is not to remove from us any responsibility for our actions. Rather, God seeks, through grace, to love us into becoming who we are created to be. Through grace, God invites, empowers and transforms.