God can

“God's grace is not defined as God being forgiving to us even though we sin. Grace is when God is a source of wholeness, which makes up for my failings. My failings hurt me and others and even the planet, and God's grace to me is that my brokenness is not the final word ... it's that God makes beautiful things out of even my own shit

                      Nadia Bolz-Weber, Pastrix: The Cranky, Beautiful Faith of a Sinner & Saint

_______________________________

Whatever became of grace?

I am not talking so much about my sense of God’s grace for me

That is a powerful and personal experience

When the Sacred in me

Rocks and Rolls

And opens me up to newness

To joy, and hope

To compassion and generosity

To love

When the sacred in me fills me

And moves me beyond my self

Giving me the capacity to move beyond

Those wounds I have accumulated

And picked at for years,

And brings me to a place more whole

Not completely whole, alas

For still I squat, at times in my own shit

But still

More secure in God’s love

Safer

More complete

Yes, I know Grace

But what has happened to our ability

Include others in grace

I know we try

I know we believe, if we have really listened to Jesus

That the grace of God is broader than we can ever image

But there are moments

At least for me, when I struggle

To grab hold of the reality that Grace

Can make up for the failings of those I believe are systematically

Persistently

Profoundly

Hurting others and even the planet.

Is my God big enough to

Make up for their failings?

Am I willing to let them join me,

As I frolic in the fountain of Grace?

It is in God’s nature to make us whole

The fact is, Grace is for everyone

Will every one accept Grace?

Will every one give the Sacred a big enough place

That they are made new?

Perhaps not

But that is not something I am asked to determine

Or even judge

All I am asked to do is claim grace for myself

And believe

With all my heart

That a person’s brokenness is never the final word ...

And that God can make beautiful things out anyone’s shit

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