Preparing for Worship – Heather Mustain, associate pastor.
Grace. Anyone else in need of a little grace these days? Reading the title, “Amazing Grace! How Sweet the Sound,” in and of itself is a healing balm to my soul; the melodious sonnet not need even to be sung. I’ve tried my hardest to maintain with excellence the myriad of roles I play and yet just this weekend admitted to how impossible it has been to feel like I’ve done my best at any of them. If you know me, you know just how important my work is to me — and my roles as both mother to Jimmie and Bly and wife to Chad. To feel as if I’m not able to give my best to any of them has me daily begging for grace. Grace from Jimmie when all she wants to do is play another game of Uno and I’m yet again committed to other tasks, grace from my colleagues who receive emails from me at all hours, and grace from Chad as he takes the kids on yet another family walk without me.
The psalmist describes God as both gracious and merciful in this morning’s Psalm reading. While our experience with the world this past year has been harsh and at points cruel, we come to worship this morning being reminded that our experience of God does not have to be. Grace is something given to us whether we deserve it or not; it’s a gift. And, for me, grace somehow always happens to be given in my exact point of need. Like now. If I’m honest, there are days when I can recognize and receive it and other days when it’s just plain hard to. And so this morning I’m praying with my hands open and waiting for the graciousness of God to fall afresh.
How about you? Do you find yourself in need of a little grace today? Perhaps you too find yourself in a season where just the words alone, “Amazing Grace! How Sweet the Sound,” are all you need to hear. And so as we prepare our hearts and minds for worship, may our posture be one which is ready to receive the grace and mercy our Lord so freely gives to us in our exact moments of need.