“By grace we see what we see. To have faith is to respond to what we see by longing for it the rest of our days; by trying to live up to it and toward it through all the wonderful and terrible things; by breathing it in like air and growing strong on it; by looking to see it again and see it better. To lose faith is to stop looking.”

                 ~ Frederick Buechner

Grace is a word we use in every worship service.  Perhaps you’ve noticed that I begin most of my prayers with a focus on love and grace:  “Loving and gracious God. . .”

Every Sunday we sing of grace.  Every Sunday we taste grace at the Open Table of Holy Communion.  We pour out grace with the waters of baptism. We anoint grace through the oil of healing and presence. Grace is a gift we receive and share from Sunday to Sunday.

Yet could it be true that grace has become mostly a word that is reserved for worship services?  This Sunday grace is at the center of our scripture from Ephesians 2:8, “It is by grace that you have been saved, through faith-and even that is not of yourselves, but the gift of God.”   This verse, for many a favorite childhood memory verse, is a pivot point for Christian faith.  Yet has it moved beyond words to deep meaning?   Is grace part of our spiritual DNA?

In Jesus, grace was embodied for us.  As followers of Jesus, how do we embody grace?  In the message last Sunday I shared that worship is full-filled when we take it beyond the sanctuary of Sunday worship services and into the world as part of our life of service.  This Sunday we’ll look at how grace, similar to worship,  is full-filled every day as we embody it in the spirit of Jesus.

“Living in the arena of grace is grace itself, “says Ikechukwu Izuakor.  The Sunday, at 9:00 AM and 11:00 AM, we will spend some time together in the arena of grace.  I look forward to seeing you on a beautiful day as spring draws closer.

Faithfully,
Rev. Dwayne

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