I want to talk about Grace. (Not in Kelly or in Will and ). But what we commonly think of as a very Christian concept that is really hard to define simply. I am coming from a couple of places: a sermon I heard at Faith Chapel in Cedar Mountain, NC and the waning of the moon as it becomes smaller and smaller so that the New Moon of the Hebrew Month of Elul can be born.

Faith Memorial Chapel is walkable from our summer home. It is this rustic and beautiful open-air structure with stone pillars and wooden pews, big green ferns hanging from the eaves and the sound of birds and the breeze mixing with the organ. It is open from Memorial Day to Labor Day and has an 11:00 AM service every Sunday that lasts one hour and no more. Once a summer (sometimes twice) I go to get a different dose of spirituality.

A few weeks ago, I heard a sermon about Grace and “yes” the final hymn was “Amazing Grace” – all four stanzas. The preacher was Reverend Ben Dorr from Westminster Presbyterian in Greenville, SC. (The Chapel brings in a different Minister every week of the summer mostly from the surrounding areas.) I don’t know him but name him for the simple reason that Jewish tradition demands when we quote someone, we identify them by name – maybe this is a piece of what we believe about immortality; or maybe this is just the right thing to do.

He talked about Jacob and his ladder dream culminating in God’s promise to Jacob that he and his descendants will inherit this land and will be blessed. The Pastor flat out said that Jacob really didn’t deserve this gift. He was running away from his family, and he had deceived his brother (Esau) twice. And who knows what else is hidden in the spaces between the letters in Genesis? Nevertheless, God blessed him. (“Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me …”) It was an unexpected, undeserved gift. Many definitions state that it is the foundation of Christian faith.

I am not here to quibble; I am here to tell you “Yes” and “Yes” again. Grace is the basis of all faith whether you put God into the equation or not. And faith for me is not blind belief. Faith for me is feeling and appreciating the blessings in my life. Even those that are challenging, even those that are discreet; even those I don’t know about yet. Like existence itself. Like living to dance at Corey and Dani’s wedding celebration this weekend. Like waking to a sun rise whether it is pink and fluffy or grey and hidden. It is not taking any of this for granted because it can turn on a dime.

So, thank you Reverend Ben for reminding me to be grateful and reframing Jacob’s story. Sometimes you dream about ladders and when you wake angels bring you blessings; sometimes you dream, and you are wrestling with unnamed and unknown forces and when you wake you are limping. That’s life. And my challenge is to find the love in it all. The month of Elul begins this coming week. It invites us to prepare for the New Year and all it will bring. It invites us to find our own personal grace.