GRACE AND NOTHING ELSE AT ALL

A friend once told me that her pastor preached "responsible grace," and while I think I know what she had in mind, grace cannot be burdened with any adjective. Grace is simply grace, unearned, undeserved, unfair, and hard to understand. It must be unmerited and unconditional to be grace at all. I've known people- perhaps you have too- who seem to believe that grace ought to be given to those who are "trying hard," or who will "appreciate it," or who "won't need it again." But this cannot be grace because grace cannot keep score. Grace is unfettered and undeserved loving kindness. It forgives those who will "straighten out their ways"... and those who won't. It lifts up those who will "pass it forward"... and those who won't. It blesses those who are very, very good... and those who aren't even trying to be good! Grace seems unfair to us and most people feel as if they don't "deserve" it. They don't... deserve it... but it is the only hope we have                                                                                                                                         

When God "speaks" to us. it is grace... when God listens to us, it is also grace...when God clothed Adam and Eve, it was grace... when     Jesus dined with Zacchaeus, it was grace...when a Rainbow appears in the sky...when a wound heals...when hope rises, it is grace...when   people stick with us and don't run away...when they don't give up on us, it is grace...a smile is grace... so is a tear... when Jesus hung on his  cross and welcomed the thief hanging next to him into his kingdom, it was grace and when the Son of God ended his work by saying, "Father, forgive them," it was amazing grace!

 "Rain is grace," Updike said. "Grace is love that stoops and rescues," according to John Scott. "Listen to you life," Buechner says, "touch, taste, smell your way to the holy and hidden heart of it (because) life itself is grace." In Rumi's view, "grace comes to forgive and then forgive again." When Jesus talked about forgiving 70 times 7, completely and as a way of life, he was talking about grace. Creation is about grace. Salvation is about grace. Kindness is about grace. Heaven is about grace. Dying with a loved one at your side is grace. Forgiving and loving yourself is grace! It's all about unmerited, unearned. undeserved favor and that is grace! May we dry our tears, leap for joy, and get out there and shower others with grace in Christ's name and for God's sake! Amen.