When Keith’s brother-in-law said grace before the family’s Thanksgiving feast, I couldn’t help but think of three other Thanksgiving families: my first-stage-of-life growing up family, the second-stage-of-life family with my children, and my third-stage-of-life with Keith. How our present leans on the past. And how our gatherings at Thanksgiving are always followed by Advent and Christmas.

This past fall, reading through my father’s papers, I found this note: “Carole, you have your own special brand of goodness. Treasure it always, and grace the world with it for that will bring good things to the world and to you in the end.” The girl I was understood those words as her father’s approval, but the woman I am now hears the echo of her Father’s grace.

What is Grace?

May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. 2 Corinthians 13:14 NIV

The conclusion of Paul’s second letter to the church in Corinth is a benediction that references each member of the Trinity as the source of one aspect of his blessing prayer. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. The loveof God. The fellowshipof the Holy Spirit. Grace, love, fellowship. Those three words became a song I couldn’t get out of my head. 

One evening, I mentioned the verse to Keith during dinner. “I’m having a hard time wrapping my brain around grace,” I said. “Love and fellowship make sense to me, at least on a superficial level. But what is grace? Really.”

“The love of God refers to His creation,” he said, “fellowship to guidance. Grace usually refers to salvation.”

Grace is Objective

Human sin and God’s grace are two poles intrinsic to all Christian spirituality, explains Gene Edward Veith Jr. in The Spirituality of the Cross. During times of doubt, fear, worry, and despair, we should look not within ourselves but outside. Grace is objective. God speaks to us in His Word. He created us in His image; like us, He has language. As with all relationships, ours with God thrives on conversations: our prayers, His Word.

Hebrews 4:12 NIV For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.

The Word of God is sacramental. The content of God’s Word is Law and Gospel. Faith is trust, a relationship of utter dependence on Christ.

Veith: “To be sure, the life of faith involves experience, behavior, and belief. But we are saved solely by the action of God: He is the one who saved us by performing everything we could not.” God is the one who acts. We do not seek Him; He seeks us, like Jesus’ parable of the lost sheep in Luke 15:4-7. We do not love God first; He loves us.

Amazing Grace

In the eighteenth century, John Newton experienced many dangers, toils, and snares: ensnared by the Royal Navy, by the lucrative business of the slave trade, by a violent ocean storm. During the latter, Newton cried out to God for mercy. Eventually, he became an abolitionist, an ordained member of the Church of England, and hymn-writer, including “Amazing Grace.”

All of us experience adversity; life doesn’t spare anyone. Forgiveness and redemption are not far away, regardless of sins committed. Even though we don’t deserve His many blessings, God’s extraordinary grace changes our hearts. He brings us to safety and leads us home. 

Notes from Vanaprastha Podcasts on my YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@CaroleDuff