The Need For Grace

Here from Internet Monk last week, a post that resonates.

How much preaching we hear from the lips of men and women who give us no way of knowing that they were themselves once upon a time passionately moved by the gospel, which they proclaim now with so little apparent passion. Let them preach about the moments of grace in their own lives. Let them preach about the flesh-and-blood reality of those moments and about how, even though there are many other moments when grace seems faint and far away, those moments of grace remain their richest treasure and dearest hope.

Or if for some reason they shy away from preaching about those moments — either because they seem too precious or perhaps too threadbare and elusive to tell — then at least let them preach out of them because not to speak from the heart of where their faith comes from is to risk never really touching the hearts of those of us who so hungrily listen.

from The Longing for Home
by Frederick Buechner

I would go even broader and deeper than just in preaching. The need is for people to live that grace and share that hope that grace brings in all they do. It is what I know happens at 12-Step meetings, for example when, in AA's words people share their "experience, strength, and hope."

For Christians who have known grace in their lives, preacher or not, the principle to practice in ALL OUR AFFAIRS:

Grace.