“Give us grace, O Lord, to answer readily the call of our Savior Jesus Christ and proclaim to all people the Good News of his salvation, that we and the whole world may perceive the glory of his marvelous works; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen.”
What is grace? Where is it coming from? How do we know when we experience it? That is what comes to my mind when I read this prayer. That’s because as a Christian nation we often hear people speak about grace. We sing Amazing Grace and soak in the power and beauty of it. We hear this hymn sung at the presidential inaugurations, ordinations, funerals, and other solemn occasions. Anytime we experience something that is beyond what we deserve or feel worthy of, we think of Amazing Grace.
I believe this time should be a season of grace. We just came out of a contentious election. We have a new president in office. In 2016 I asked my then congregation to give grace to the then-president to work through the difficulties of his job. Today I am asking you to give grace to the current president the same grace. Keep judgments away and prejudices out. Pull together for a nation to succeed despite our differences. Love the neighbor that belongs to either party. Take cookies to your Republican friends and give flowers to your Democrat neighbors. Stand for a cause not a person, except Christ, which is the cause. The Republic lives, even though we came close to losing it – affecting both Republicans and Democrats. We have done this exercise of choosing our leader for over 200 years and it is time that we give grace to people to succeed or fail and let the nation judge again in four years.
Give grace at all costs. Make the decision to give grace to people you disagree with just as much as you give grace to yourself. If that’s not possible, let us reflect on what kind of grace have we received from the Lord. Is it because we deserved it or because God is kind enough?