Strengthened through grace
James Cathcart
December 05, 2023
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Listen to this daily worship
1 Corinthians 1: 3-9 (NRSVA)
3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
4 I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that has been given you in Christ Jesus, 5 for in every way you have been enriched in him, in speech and knowledge of every kind— 6 just as the testimony of Christ has been strengthened among you— 7 so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ. 8 He will also strengthen you to the end, so that you may be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 God is faithful; by him you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
Grace can seem like weakness sometimes can’t it?
Giving way, letting go, holding back.
‘He was graceful in defeat.’
‘She was gracious in moving aside.’
‘She had the grace not to mention it.’
‘He graced them by remaining silent.’
But grace is strong.
Really strong.
Life-changingly strong.
Grace saves lives, brings peace,
restores hope, maintains community,
enables compassion and makes us more
than the sum of our parts.
Because grace always take strength.
To act with grace can be to act against instinct or impulse
against jealousy, pettiness or spite.
It takes effort and comes with a cost.
Grace means acknowledging someone
because of who they are
not what they have, or what they can do, or what they mean to us.
Just because of who they are.
Like seemingly fragile straw woven into a thatched roof,
Grace is strong
and like straw
it traps heat,
creating shelter.
Grace strengthens a community
through gradual life-giving transformation.
Grace takes weakness and makes it a strength.
It takes shame and makes it honour
it takes ridicule and makes it glory.
For grace takes courage.
For grace takes strength.
For grace takes faith.
And grace gives us love.
PRAYER:
Thatch-maker God
Together we join you in making a thatch of straw,
weaving together grace, peace and faith,
to make a shelter to gather under and gaze
at the wonder of Advent again.
Amen.
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