“I was born a child of grace.” And so begins the song, All Because of You by the Rock Band U2. I was born a child of grace indeed that is true for all of us. We were each born into the grace of God, all because of God who loved each one of us into existence. But that grace goes beyond our creation.
Frederick Beuchner author and pastor put it this way: “The grace of God means something like: "Here is your life. You might never have been, but you are, because the party wouldn't have been complete without you. Here is the world. Beautiful and terrible things will happen. Don't be afraid. I am with you. Nothing can ever separate us. It's for you I created the universe. I love you." I love his description of grace, we are here because God wants us to be here, the world would not be complete with out us. And in the midst of joy and tragedy, beauty and terrible things, God still walks with us, for nothing can ever separate us from the love of God, so St. Paul reminds us in his letter to the Romans. But it is not just our creation that is a gift, it is not just our breath we have now, the steps we take. That grace extends to the end of our lives too, for that grace is also about our salvation. At the beginning and at the end, its not what we are or do. Grace happens.
As Beucnher also says, “There's only one catch. Like any other gift, the gift of grace can be yours only if you'll reach out and take it.” The struggle of taking hold of that gift, of recognizing that gift in the best and worst of times, is what makes grace so tough to hold onto and yet so needed in our lives.
Today (at the 10:15 AM service) we recognize that Will Benet, Connor Eaton and Evan Kollmann are making an important Rite of Passage, and we witness to God’s grace in their lives. The liturgy is called “The Celebration of Manhood and Womanhood”, but is more well-known as “Rite-13” since it takes place near the candidate’s 13th Birthday – much like a bar mitzvah or bat mitzvah. “During the ceremony, we recognize the gift of womanhood or manhood that God bestows on each one of us. This is a free gift that we cannot earn and need not prove. This gift is the essence of who we are. As we grow and mature in the journey to adulthood, our knowledge and skills increase, but the magical core of who we are remains the same. In our society, the line between childhood and adulthood is often a fuzzy one. Unlike other cultures, we don’t have formalized rites of passage that define the points along the path to adulthood. We need ways to tell our young people they are making progress; they are growing and learning; they are becoming adults. Today we (will) take the time to mark that passage with these three young men (at 10:15).” (from the J2A Materials)
And as we celebrate with them, I am reminded of a poem from my teenage years that speaks of our accepting that grace of god, it is called Come Gather, Children by Martin Bell (from The Way of the Wolf)
Come gather, children everywhere.
Come and listen. Come and see.
It is God alone who gives us our lives,
And God who sets us free.
Free to live. Free to decide.
To make our world what it will be.
And then it is God who demands that we die.
And that's just the way it is for you and me.
And God likes me the just way I am. I turned out just right.
But I'll sing it again in case I forget. And, strange as it seems, I might.
If God is the One who gives us our lives,
Then Children of God we must be.
But how can we be children of someone we can't hold?
Of a father we can't see?
And God can't be held. And God can't be seen.
But we meet him whenever we're set free.
And we learn about freedom when we learn the way life is,
And that you and I decide how it will be.
And God likes me the just way I am. I turned out just right.
But I'll sing it again in case I forget. And, strange as it seems, I might.
Come gather, children everywhere.
Come and listen. Come and see.
It is God alone who gives us our lives,
And God who sets us free.
Free to live. Free to decide.
To make our world what it will be.
And then it is God who demands that we die.
And that's just the way it is for you and me.
And God likes me the just way I am. I turned out just right.
But I'll sing it again in case I forget. And, strange as it seems, I might.
And God likes me the just way I am. I turned out just right.
But I'll sing it again in case I forget. And, strange as it seems, I might.
Today we will mark their transition, as they grow into their freedom, as they learn about that grace they have always had and how to live it out in their lives, to make the choices that brings life and joy to their lives and our world today. It is to celebrate and witness the grace of God in their lives and ours.
In the words of Barbara Brown Taylor: “To give into grace is to surrender our ideas about who God should be in order to embrace God’s idea of who we are and to have the good sense to say Thank You.”
And today we say thank you to God for Will, Connor, and Evan, each born a child of grace, each made in God’s image, and we too offer our thanks for we also are children of God’s grace, created in God’s image. for God likes us the just way we are. We turned out just right. But we'll sing it again in case we forget. And, strange as it seems, we might. Amen.
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