Sharing grace with each other

By Rev. Andy Fleming, Associate Chaplain

For those who work at and attend school, the first day of school offers a second chance, (after New Years) to think about a new beginning. Whenever we experience a ‘new beginning,’ there are questions we ask ourselves as we anticipate the future and reflect on the past. Regardless of the opportunities and challenges new beginnings present, there is always an opportunity to share grace as we move forward.

Sharing grace is a timely message, particularly after a Christmas holiday period where our current global context is one of fear, power and revenge, along with the seemingly endless tragedies of war and natural disaster that overwhelm those in need and those who are dispossessed.

The new school year coincides with the church season of Epiphany and celebrates the manifestation of Jesus as the ‘light of the world.’ It is a season that celebrates God’s offering of an abundance of grace – both in our private lives and in our community.

We might wonder what it means to gather in community to share grace, or to be filled with the manifestation of God’s gift of grace? The famous story of Jesus turning water into wine at a wedding offers insight into what abundant grace looks like.

Running out of wine at this wedding in Cana, isn’t simply a social faux pas, it’s a disaster! For those in the story, the wine isn’t just an accompaniment to the celebration, it’s the sign of harvest and of abundance, and therefore a sign of God’s abundance, of joy and gladness and hospitality. And so, when they run short on wine, they run short on blessing. And that’s a tragedy.

As the author of John begins to reveal the mystery of Christ, he offers a story of God’s abundant grace. In this gospel story, grace is like “an overflowing of joy, blessing and the presence of God.”

The message of abundant grace isn’t about making up for something we simply lack. It is also about receiving and offering more than we’d ever imagine or deserve.

As we imagine receiving a generous serving of God’s abundant grace, we might also imagine our most hopeful vision for gathering as a community to enrich the lives of those caught in the fear, power and revenge. What is our most hopeful vision for the living God’s abundant grace for the sake of the common good? Think how, as a loving grace-filled community, we might respond to support those impacted by the antisemitic attitudes and actions that have arisen in our society.

As we start this new school year, can we envision our community with the abundance of God’s grace offered in love, generosity, hospitality, neighbourliness that brings about good community, hope, kindness and compassion?

What does it mean to live as though God’s abundant grace is served so generously to us, that it is filled to the brim and overflowing within our lives?

May you experience God’s abundant grace,

Rev. Andy