4. Grace, she takes the blame
She covers the shame
Removes the stain
It could be her name
Grace it's a name for a girl
It's also a thought that changed the world
And when she walks on the street
You can hear the strings
Grace finds goodness in everything
Grace, she's got the walk
She's got the time to talk
She travels outside of karma
She travels outside of karma
When she goes to work
You can hear her strings
Grace finds beauty in everything
5. Grace, she carries a world on her hips
No champagne flute for her lips
No twirls or skips between her fingertips
She carries a pearl in perfect condition
What once was hurt
What once was friction
What left a mark
No longer stings
Because grace makes beauty
Out of ugly things
Grace makes beauty out of ugly things
6. Grace is not about
what I do, but about
what God is doing.
8. Matthew 9:9-13
Passing along, Jesus saw a man collecting taxes.
His name was Matthew. Jesus said, "Come along
with me." Matthew stood up and followed him.
Later when Jesus was eating supper at
Matthew's house with his close followers, a lot
of disreputable characters came and joined
them. When the Pharisees saw him keeping this
kind of company, they had a fit, and said to
Jesus' followers. "What kind of example is this
from your Teacher, acting cozy with crooks and
riffraff?"
9. Matthew 9:9-13
Jesus heard that. So he said, "Those who are
healthy don't need a doctor. Sick people do.
Go and learn what this means, 'I want mercy
and not sacrifice.'—(Hosea 6:6) I have not
come to get those who think they are right
with God to follow me. I have come to get
sinners to follow me."
10. Ragamuffin Gospel
• When I get honest, I admit I am a bundle of
paradoxes. I believe and I doubt, I hope and I
get discouraged, I love and I hate, I feel bad
about feeling good, I feel guilty about not
feeling guilty, I am trusting and suspicious. I
am honest and I still play games. I say I am an
angel with an incredible capacity for beer.
11. Ragamuffin Gospel
• To live by grace means to acknowledge my
whole life story, the light side and the dark. In
admitting my shadow side, I learn who I am
and what God’s grace means. As Thomas
Merton put it, “A saint is not someone who is
good but who experiences the goodness of
God.”[Manning,]
14. Ephesians 2:8-9 (New International Reader's Version)
God's grace has saved you because of your
faith in Christ. Your salvation doesn't come
from anything you do. It is God's gift. It is
not based on anything you have done. No
one can brag about earning it.
15.
16. Paul Tillich
"You are accepted. You are accepted,
accepted by that which is greater than you
and the name of which you do not know. Do
not ask the name now, perhaps you will know
it later. Do not try to do anything, perhaps
later you will do much. Do not seek for
anything, do not perform anything, do not
intend anything. Simply accept the fact that
you are accepted.”
17. But he said to me, "My grace is all you need.
My power is strongest when you are
weak." So I am very happy to brag about
how weak I am. Then Christ's power can rest
on me.
2 Corinthians 12:9
18. Ragamuffin Gospel
The Kingdom belongs to people who aren't trying to look
good or impress anybody, even themselves. They are not
plotting how they can call attention to themselves,
worrying about how their actions will be interpreted or
wondering if they will get gold stars for their behavior.
The child doesn't have to struggle to get himself in a good
position for having a relationship with God; he doesn't have
to craft ingenious ways of explaining his position to Jesus;
he doesn't have to create a pretty face for himself; he
doesn't have to achieve any state of spiritual feeling or
intellectual understanding. All he has to do is happily
accept the cookies: the gift of the Kingdom.
20. A matter of the heart..
The difference between faith as "belief in
something that may or may not exist" and
faith as "trusting in God" is enormous. The
first is a matter of the head, the second a
matter of the heart. The first can leave us
unchanged, the second intrinsically brings
change.
