God Has Once More Given Us Grace

From  yesterday —

“This whole week, I’ve been reflecting on this idea of grace. The grace of the families who lost loved ones. The grace that Reverend Pinckney would preach about in his sermons.

“The grace described in one of my favorite hymnals — the one we all know: Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now I’m found; was blind but now I see.

“According to the Christian tradition, grace is not earned. Grace is not merited. It’s not something we deserve. Rather, grace is the free and benevolent favor of God — — as manifested in the salvation of sinners and the bestowal of blessings.

“Grace.

“As a nation, out of this terrible tragedy, God has visited grace upon us, for he has allowed us to see where we’ve been blind. He has given us the chance, where we’ve been lost, to find our best selves.

“We may not have earned it, this grace, with our rancor and complacency, and short-sightedness and fear of each other — but we got it all the same. He gave it to us anyway.

“He’s once more given us grace.

“But it is up to us now to make the most of it, to receive it with gratitude, and to prove ourselves worthy of this gift.”

— from President Obama’s eulogy of the Rev. Clementa Pinckney