Participation

My brother in law sent me a definition of grace the other day:

Grace is the participation of the very presence of God

This about that for a moment. Grace is the participation of the presence of God. We've spent 11 weeks this fall discussing the idea that God is close. Before that, in the spring, we talked about the book "What's so Amazing about Grace."

What do amazing about grace isn't the fact that God is Closer than we think. The amazing part of grace is that God participates in our lives. God -- the very God who created the heavens and earth, care enough about me and you that he will activity participate in our lives.

Look at this verse from 2 Thessalonians 16-17, part of the lectionary readings for this week:

Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and through grace gave us eternal comfort and good hope, comfort your hearts and strengthen them in every good work and word.

God, though grace -- active participation in our lives -- beings us comfort, hope and strength.