November Theme Packet: Grace

The theme for the November meetings of the DeKalb and Genoa Spirit Journey Groups is "Grace." A downloadable .pdf copy of the theme packet is available on the November calendar links for these groups.

The DeKalb Spirit Journey Group meets on 3rd SUNDAY (usually) of each month at 12:30-2:00 p.m. Dates are: 9-21, 10-19, 11-23 (4th Sunday), and 12-21. Location: UUFD, 158 North 4th St., DeKalb. Facilitator: Rev. Linda Slabon. To sign up for the UUFD Group: email office@uufdekalb.org or call 815-756-7089 or contact Rev. Linda. 

The Genoa Spirit Journey Group meets on the 3rd WEDNESDAY of each month at 6:00 pm. Location: Olson Funeral Home, 202 E. Main Street. Facilitators: Misha Lentz (Rockford) and Donna Venneman (DeKalb). To sign up for the Genoa Group: email office@uurockford.org or call 815-398-6322.  

Soul Matters 2014-15

November

What Does It Mean To Be a People of Grace?

“A people of grace”?  It’s not a phrase we usually use to describe ourselves. Grace is the property of our good friends across the street at the Christian church. Grace is the theological concept we left behind.  Or grew out of. Or were wounded by. We are uncomfortable with the old words: “to be saved by grace alone.” They sound to us like a prescription for passivity. And don’t even get us started on the idea that we “need grace.”  We are so done with the argument about whether or not we are hopeless sinners who need our dark souls wiped clean.  And so, for a long time now, many of us Unitarian Universalists have treated the idea of grace with benign neglect. 

 But it doesn’t take much to notice that a new openness is taking hold.  We seem to be done with the work of criticizing the word and have turned to the joy of reclaiming it. Yes, joy!  Despite all its theological baggage, at its core the idea of grace simply celebrates a gift. Or maybe it’s more accurate to say, it celebrates the giftedness of life. The deepest and most sacred experience of joy comes from encountering a gift you didn’t expect, earn, create or even deserve. And who of us hasn’t been a recipient of that kind of gift? Reclaiming the word “grace” is our way as Unitarian Universalists of saying thanks! It’s our way of humbly and gratefully acknowledging that when we are at the end of our ability or at the end of a rope, life has a way of surprising us. It’s our way of acknowledging the astounding fact that no matter how tragic or bleak things get, the bad simply can’t shut out all the good, the dark can’t squeeze out all the light!

 Grace has also healed us as a faith community. Whether your personal theology leans theist or atheist (or somewhere in between), all of us find common ground around celebrating the gifts we didn’t expect, create or deserve. Whereas once we fought about who is the giver of grace and whether or not there even was one, we now are satisfied with simply coming together to celebrate the gift. 

 And not just celebrating it, but giving it a little bit of help as well. This is also what it means to us to be “a people of grace.” Grace operates –often maddeningly– by its own set of rules.  Independence and inscrutability are grace’s hallmarks. But it also seems that grace enjoys pulling us in as its partner-in-crime. While we can’t control it, we can collude with it. The rules of grace involve more than us just sitting back and waiting for grace to happen. We are asked to be open, to let go of our precious and preferred plans, and accept the gift in whatever form it comes. We are also asked to be “givers of grace.” Yes, grace frequently does its work in spite of us, but more often than not it finds a way of working through us, if we let it.

 In fact that’s what this month is all about: asking ourselves what we need to do to enable grace to flow more freely.  So what is your “grace work”?  Looking around?  Letting go?  Trusting more?  Accepting whatever comes?  Sneaking a gift into someone’s life without them knowing it?  Forgiving someone when they don’t deserve it? 

 Joyful work indeed!

Our Spiritual Exercises

Option A:

 Give Grace A Hand

 Grace doesn’t just surprise us; it also often invites us to be part of the surprise.  It’s sneaky that way. It likes to enlist us as its partner-in-crime.  This exercise asks us to explore that more deeply— it asks us to notice how we are both givers and receivers of grace. Simply put, your challenge is to find a way to bring grace to someone’s life.   That may seem simple, but there is one big, challenging rule you must follow:

 They can’t know you were involved! 

 Your task is not to do a “good deed.”  It is to help someone experience life differently.   The goal is to remind someone that life itself is generous, not stingy;  open, not closed; full of surprises, not full of threats.  If they know you are involved, it will only convince them that you are a good guy or gal. Your goal is convince them that “life is good!”

 Here is some inspiration to help you. (Notice that some of these ideas involve you getting grace to many people at once. If that's your calling as well, go for it!) :

 Check out this post:http://www.oddee.com/item_98410.aspx

• Visit this pinterest site: http://www.pinterest.com/momofmadzakzoe/random-acts-of-kindness/
• Watch this movie: Amélie - http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/amelie/

 Come to your group prepared not only to tell the story of how you gave grace a hand, but also to share your answers to these questions: 

1. Was remaining anonymous harder than you thought?  Did the difficulty have more to do with you wanting credit or with you wanting to vicariously experience the recipients joy?
2. Why did you choose the recipient you did?   Does this say anything about what kinds of people you think “deserve grace”?
3. How was this spiritual for you?  Did it just make you feel happy? Or part of something larger than yourself?
4. Did the recipient have any trouble receiving the gift? Did others have trouble with the fact that they didn’t get the gift themselves?

Alternate Exercises:

1. Bring Your Best Grace Story:  Treat this as an opportunity to express gratitude for the grace that has blessed your life, but also choose a story that taught you something significant about grace. How did this experience make you think about grace differently? How has the experience helped you more easily notice grace and open to it?
2. Take Up “Grace Watching”:  As a way of reminding yourself of life’s giftedness, spend a week documenting the number of times you see grace in action. Come to your group prepared to share what your list taught you.
3. Give Your Schedule over to Grace:    Put your To-Do List down for a day. Ignore your schedule.  Commit to giving up all plans or expectations. Simply spend the day letting grace guide your agenda.   Treat it as an experiment, testing the hypothesis that grace and giftedness is all around and wants to lure you in.

Your Question

As always, don’t treat these questions like “homework.”  You do not need to engage every single one.  Instead, simply find the one that “hooks” you most and let it lead you where you need to go.  And then come to your Soul Matters meeting prepared to share that journey with your group.

1. Have you closed yourself off from grace because you are uncomfortable with the word?   No one will object to you criticizing the way the concept of grace has been misused.   But are you sure you want to keep criticizing?   Rather than reclai
2. Are you ticked off at grace?   It can be arbitrary. Not showing up when you need it most.  How are you doing at “forgiving grace”?   How are you doing at accepting the fact that it comes and goes like the wind? Or shows up in forms different than you had hoped?
3. Is grace asking for your help?   Grace rarely does everything on its own. It enlists us as its partner-in-crime. Have you noticed that neighbor or co-worker who feels cut off?   Or who is convinced that life is no longer on her side? Have you missed the invitation to help.
4. Do you consider yourself “graceful”?  Grace is not always something we receive or give.   Sometimes it’s a state of being. Like a dancer lost in the flow, sometimes we are so attuned to and accepting of life’s currents that everything suddenly feels like a gift.   When was the last time you danced through life gracefully? What's keeping you from doing it right now?
5.  Is grace trying to get you to let go?   Sometimes we cut ourselves off from grace by doggedly pursuing our own plans and preferences? Keeping your eyes on the prize can be noble, unless it’s blinding you to the real gift sitting in the other corner of the room?  Do you need to let go of what you want in order to notice the unexpected thing grace is trying to give?
6.  Are you here because of grace?  Have you given grace its due?  Or stole all the credit?   We all like to tell the story of our lives as if we pulled ourselves up by our own bootstraps. It’s a delicious temptation to tell the story that way.  Here is your chance to tell a more grateful – and grace-full— story. 
7. Do you believe in grace?   Every religion has its way of declaring that grace is always there, that  no tragedy, defeat or evil is so large that it eliminates grace entirely.  Do you believe this? Do you agree that grace is always there, if only we were willing to look?  Maybe the bigger question is, “Do you WANT to believe?”  Is restoring your faith in grace the work you need to do right now?

Recommended Resources

As always, this is not required reading.  We will not analyze or dissect these pieces in our group.  They are simply meant to get your thinking started, and maybe to open you to new ways of thinking about what it means to “be a people of grace.”