Or getting the sermon written?
Last week I had a particularly challenging sermon to write. This week is an equally challenging topic – not least because of its familiarity. I decided to start the process early, and began by posting a photo of this poster from our church entrance lobby and asking for help:
Almost immediately the response came back “don’t know…but its amazing”, which was a good start. The following evening I posted a query online about where the origins lay of the honorific ‘your grace’ for a Bishop. Amongst one of the more interesting responses was a retweet from a Muslim Professor of Interreligious Education the other side of the Atlantic. Others then followed.
In the meantime I have been busy with other things, but observing constantly a stream of uplifting and positive conversations from friends in chaplaincy and training in the National Health Service. Theirs is grace under fire, if ever I saw it.
Today I need to get down to writing the sermon in earnest, but not before stopping en route to the office via Iran! Last night another tweet took me to this post about the mosque you see pictured below. As with many mosques, the decoration is purely geometric. The real glory here, though, comes from the natural illumination when the early morning sun enters through the stained glass in the roof:
Image: rockylewis.com
I am reminded of this verse in 1 Peter, where Peter’s original Greek text urged his readers to be good servants of God’s “rainbow grace”. Hmm…
