Meditation: Acts 2: 1-4, 22-24, 37-47
In this passage we see God’s generosity given through the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in baptism and through the gathering of community. Think about your baptism and the role of the Christian community in showing you God’s love. Where in the church community are you most experiencing God’s grace now?
Response: There are definitely three places in our church community that I am most experiencing God’s grace now. Those places are: our church Sunday Morning Prayer, our church Sunday Morning Worship Service, and our church Bible Study.
By the grace of God, we are given the gift of salvation, not through any action on our own part and because God shows His grace to me, I should show His grace to others. Grace is God choosing to bless us rather than curse us as our sin deserves. It is His benevolence to the undeserving.
Acts 2: 42 is the passage I have meditated on the most, “They spent their time learning the apostles’ teaching, sharing, breaking bread, and praying together.” Sunday Morning Prayer, nine of us (including our pastor) gather in our church Prayer Room (We call it the War Room and we, of course, are the Prayer Warriors.) We always begin prayer promptly at 8 am, kneeling, standing, or sitting. In our own way we each pray and sing always thanking God for His grace and mercy, His blessings, His Son, and praying for one another. We thank Him for salvation. We ask God to forgive us our sins, those we know we committed and those we unknowingly
committed. This small group I so much enjoy and look forward to attending every Sunday. If I am not in a position to attend (mostly if I am out of town) I still take the time at 8 am on Sunday morning to pray and meditate…no matter where I am.
Our church Sunday Morning Worship Service is so enlightening. Our pastor brings a ‘Holy Spirit’ led sermon every Sunday that she is in the pulpit (and other places where she preaches). I am happy I am able to hear the Word, clap my hands, sing, stand, and praise Him for His mighty grace.
Our church Bible study class is another church community that I feel God’s grace. In our class we have learned to ‘love the unlovable, forgive those who hurt us, not pass judgement on the sinner’…all about grace. We have learned about different types of
grace…justifying, prevenient, sanctifying. All of these church community areas remind me how far I have come become of God’s divine Grace. I have come a long way on my spiritual journey and though I am not perfect, I am not where I used to be.
I am also reminded of the words to the song, “Amazing Grace”.
Amazing grace! how sweet the sound,
That saved a wretch; like me!
I once was lost, but now am found,
Was blind, but now I see.’Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,
And grace my fears relieved;
How precious did that grace appear
The hour I first believed!The Lord hath promised good to me,
His word my hope secures;
He will my shield and portion be
As long as life endures.When we’ve been there ten thousand years,
Bright shining as the sun,
We’ve no less days to sing God’s praise
Than when we first begun.