A few things about grace I've never found the words to tell you (Pt1)

Hi Lyds. I wrote this in Pembrokeshire, intending to just give it to you; instead of asking and trusting the Father to give us the right moment to just talk about it... and then he did, in the car on the way home. I guess that is just a classic example of exactly this! Anyway, I thought you might want it in writing; and to be honest, I also might like to put it in a blog, so let me know if you’re okay with that. You don’t have to say yes.

I was sitting eating chips with Matt and Josh after a bike ride, watching the sky slip into dark, and your move came into the conversation. And I realised if there was one thing I wanted for you (or anyone) in a church, it’s not that they practice the presence of the Holy Spirit, or believe in the sovereignty of God, or are actively engaging with the poor in their community; it’s this. That they teach and practice grace.

You probably remember the story about CS Lewis and the congress of religions. They were arguing away for days, Christians trying to identify what makes Christianity any different to anything else. So they ask CS Lewis. ‘That’s easy’, he says. ‘It’s grace’.

You know what an irritating do-gooder I am. You know how I patronise you and look down at some of your behaviour. You know how I spend hours on family holidays writing myself ‘to-do’ lists to make myself a better person. It’s a wonder you don’t hate me. It would certainly be no wonder if you were put off my lifestyle; or my God.


But I hope you’ve noticed me going on a journey with this. I hope these days I’m a bit less judging, a bit less driven, a lot easier to be around. My journey has been getting to know the God I’ve spent so long trying to serve. I want to help you see that when Jesus said, ‘Come to me all you who are weary and I will give you rest, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light’, he wasn’t telling us a massive lie.