Shout Grace, Grace to It!
“So he answered and said to me: "This is the word of the
Lord to Zerubbabel: 'Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,' says the
Lord of hosts. 'Who are you, O Great
Mountain? Before Zerubbabel you shall become a plain! And he shall bring forth
the capstone with shouts of "Grace, grace to it!" (Zechariah 4: 6-7
NKJV)
This is one of the great
prophetic proclamations of The Bible. It speaks to our neediness and makes it
abundantly clear that our ‘real’ life (i.e., our weaknesses, infirmities, and
failures) must become enraptured by Holy Spirit’s empowerment and the Grace of
Jesus. Shout Grace, Grace to your mountains of difficulty!
“Allow me
to be gentle with myself. Allow me to savor my humanness and my limitations.
Allow me, Holy One, to fall into your arms.” Sister Joan Chittister
Jesus allows for any and all
human contingencies today and forevermore. With God's Love there are no hoops
of human perfection or performance. He celebrates our humanity as we lean fully
into the grace of Jesus; trusting in His loving mercy and grace. This is the
only place where ‘peace’ passes the ability to interpret or understand our life.
We also discover there is only
one safe place...the arms of Jesus! "Your life is hidden with Christ in
God." Our security in the Grace of Jesus compels all in our ‘sphere of
influence’ to come to Him! "The
awesome love of our invisible God has become both visible and audible in Jesus
Christ, the glory of the only Son filled with enduring love." (Brennan
Manning)
“For I have been
crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. And the life that I now live, I live by the
faith of Son of God in me. Who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not set aside the grace of God by my
own strength, but; I enter into grace at all times through the door of my own
weaknesses! May we receive the continuous gift of Christ’s great grace?”
(Adapted from Galatians 2:20-21)
Ever
noticed that every attempt at defining or understanding grace seems to fall a
bit short of its Majestic Potential?
“Grace is the celebration of
life, relentlessly hounding all the non-celebrants in the world. It is a
floating, cosmic bash shouting its way through the streets of the universe,
flinging the sweetness of its cassations to every window, pounding at every
door in hilarity beyond all liking and happening. (Shout
Grace, Grace) until (all) the prodigals come out at last and dance, and the
elder brothers finally take their fingers out of their ears.” - Robert
Farrar Capon (parentheses mine)
Grace to You, Ron Ross
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