Gratitude, praise are best responses

The Rev. Peter Luckey, senior pastor of Plymouth Congregational Church, 925 Vt.:

Why the church? Or why worship? Why live with a grateful heart come what may?

If I had to answer in one word, that word would be grace.

Even so, I agree with Patrick Henry, author of “The Ironic Christian’s Companion,” when he writes, “I can’t tell you what the grace of God is. The most I can do is report what trusting it is like.”

The reason we cannot readily describe grace is because it does not originate with us. It comes from beyond us. The experience itself is one of transcendence. Simply, grace cannot be manufactured or bought, but only received. In every way, shape and form, grace is a gift.

It can be the reflected color of a setting sun on crimson and yellow fall foliage. It can be the unexpected clasp of one hand to another. It can be acts of kindness and generosity when both seemed in short supply. It can be the voice of Jessye Norman singing, a capella, “Amazing Grace” to a hushed Guns ‘n’ Roses concert crowd at Wembley Stadium.

Grace can be all these, and more. To define grace precisely is, by nature, impossible, because grace comes from God, and words only go so far in describing the gifts that come from God.

But to trust in grace is entirely possible. It is, in fact, a reason for living. To trust in grace means to trust in a God who lives, who acts in our lives still.

Gracie Allen once said, “Never place a period where God has placed a comma. God is still speaking.” Grace is how God speaks in our lives. And the best response is always in gratitude and praise.

Dedicate ourselves to common good

The Rev. Emilee Dawn Whitehurst, associate pastor for college ministry and adult education at First Presbyterian Church, 2415 Clinton Parkway:

The grace of God is often understood as divine action that spares us from a terrible fate, as in the phrase, “There but for the grace of God go I.”

At first glance, this statement seems to be a humble recognition that my good fortune is not of my own making.

However, behind this humility lurks a belief in a deity who acts to save me from misfortune but not you. What kind of God would allot portions of hardship and sorrow to some and not others? Not a very gracious one. Nor a just one. Unless, that is, you believe that those who are sick or poor or victims of tragedy are simply getting their just deserts.

In the book of Acts, we read that there was not a needy person among the early followers of Jesus living in Jerusalem, “for as many as owned lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold … and it was distributed to each as any had need” (Acts 4:33-34). In describing these people, the author of acts writes that a “great grace was upon them all.”

Christians claim Jesus’ life, death and resurrection to be a radical, reconciling act of God that fundamentally transforms the potential for human community. The grace of God in Jesus Christ enabled those early believers to respect one another’s ultimate worth and to act accordingly.

Today, when we survey our hearts and acknowledge how attached we are to our possessions, it should come as no surprise that an act of God would indeed be required for us to fully dedicate ourselves toward the common good. May grace be upon us all.