Nehemiah ended his official duties as builder of the wall around Jerusalem by calling for a dedication ceremony during which they purified the priests, the people and the wall. He then led a celebration that consisted of two choirs of singers and musicians playing cymbals, harps and lyres marching around the whole city on top of the wall — one choir going one direction, the other going the other until they met up at the other side of town — singing and rejoicing as they went. One wonders if they were able to hear each other and perhaps even sing antiphonally. At any rate there was great joy, and one can’t help but think of Tobias mocking them back when they started to build that this dilapidated wall and these silly people couldn’t build a wall that would support a fox.

For those in the know, there is no way to fathom them finishing the wall as quickly as they did. When their enemies and surrounding nations heard of it, “They realized this work had been done with the help of our God” (Nehemiah 6:16). In the NewTestament, we call this Grace. It’s God’s power present in us and working through us. It’s what each of us has available for the tasks God has for us today and everyday.

To encourage us in this, I offer this excellent piece by Marti.

Grace, and why it’s what we all need

by Marti Fischer

By no means am I asked to be Saint Marti nor will I ever become an idealized poster-child for Christ. Yet my life, like yours, is like a parable for why we live, why we invite others to enter into our passion to become common heroes in the warfare of pain, and get really busy through Christ in us toward removing the causes of indifference.

We are a lot of aging men and women still playing. It’s a kids game when we try to psych ourselves up to accomplish something great for God. Jesus’ message hasn’t changed. It’s elementary: Grace. It is the answer and it is unshakable, running through every breath we take.

We clearly know we are not Christians with a few ‘imperfections,’ or ‘mistakes,’ or ‘errors in judgment’ but consider ourselves exceedingly sinful (Romans 7:13). We have experienced the full significance of Christ’s work on the cross, which is for everyone, and we know the glory of Christ can only be seen in contrast to our own despicable selves. The final mark of greatness is emptiness. The less we can do, the more powerful we are.

The world is waiting to see the truth, and we, by the Grace of God, are available and will not hide the truth from the world or speak in a veiled language. This is because Grace has upended “you reap what you sow.”  Grace defies reason and logic. It interrupts the consequences of our actions, which in all of our cases is very good news indeed, because we have all done a lot of stupid things.

We are called to go out from beyond the church and live in the heart of the storm and live in the real world, making the Lord’s message relevant to that world.

The key is grace and it is lived as though we only just discovered it. And this is because we just did – today … here and now.

The following is a song by U2’s Bono. It is simply called “Grace.” Get some time away from the day-to-day — it is that  important — to discover again what this thing called Grace means to you and why it is time to surrender any conceptions that you may still hold that it is still up to you to ‘help’ God out.

Turn to the Lord so that he might remove your veil of adequacy so that you might be free — for where the Spirit is there is liberty, knowing, finally,  that everything is from the Lord and nothing from you.  And since you have “this ministry,” you will never lose heart.

Grace

by Bono of U2 From “No Line on the Horizon”

What once was hurt

What once was friction

What left a mark
No longer stings

Because Grace makes beauty
Out of ugly things.