Grace is one of the big words – it has so much packed into it that it can be hard to understand. You remember that Martin Luther used the word to identify the major disagreement he had with the church of his day – he kept trying to reform the church so that it made grace more central, and wound up starting new churches that we now call Protestant churches.
Luther kept saying and quoting the Bible (Romans 3 and others) to make clear that we are saved, made right, justified, by grace through faith. Luther kept repeating that you cannot earn grace, you cannot buy grace, you cannot inherit grace. Grace is always a gift given by God.
During Lent we pray, we mark our faces with ashes as a sign of our mortality, and read and study, not as a way of making ourselves worthy of God’s gift, but as a way of reminding ourselves of what our God is doing for us. We remember how God’s love interrupts the consequences of our actions. We celebrate how the way of Jesus helps us live in a new way.
To live with grace is to learn how to be graceful, to act with elegance and style. We are not perfect; we allow God’s grace to correct our missteps. During Lent we give thanks for God’s grace.
Faithfully,
Art Urie, Bridge Interim Minister