Dear Friends,
One afternoon last month I found myself standing in the hallway of a hospital, holding hands and praying with someone I had just met. The man was caring for a loved one who had been in the hospital for a long time. He was tired and far from his home. I listened to his story and asked if he would like to pray. As we prayed I heard groups of people in conversation walking by. A nearby automatic door opened and closed. A cell phone ring tone went off. I held tight to his hands and asked God to be his comfort and watch over his loved one.
A busy hospital hallway may not be the ideal place for prayer, but because prayer is a place where we become open to God’s presence, that hallway became a place to glimpse God’s grace.
Spiritual practices like prayer, Bible reading, singing, meditating, or caring for others are ways that we become more open to God’s grace. We may think that the “means of grace” that we choose must be clothed in devotional silence or the ritual of worship. However, there is enough grace, God’s unconditional love, to spill over from moments of devout silence and spiritual contemplation.
How can Christians living full lives, crammed with activity and responsibility, glimpse God’s grace? Are there “means of grace” that are practical, relevant and realistic? I believe that there are. In Sunday worship in January and February, we will take a fresh look at “means of grace”, naming spiritual practices that can open our hearts to God’s presence and seeking ways to incorporate those practices into our lives. We will consider how exercise, silence, music, the act of creating and the act of offering blessing can be “glimpses of grace”.
Glimpses of God’s grace can be our expectation every day. Together we will seek ways to open ourselves to God’s presence. Even in surprising places like hospital hallways.
Blessings,
Pastor Sherry
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