On Faith

Talk about it

A new gold rush of sorts is pitting Arctic Circle countries against each other. Canada, Russia and the United States are vying for rights over vast untapped reservoirs of natural gas and oil under the arctic sea. Some estimate that 13 percent of the world’s oil reserves and a third of natural gas reserves lie under the ice cap. Because of climate change and new technologies, these once-inaccessible deposits are suddenly becoming a real option.

Imagine the excitement and anticipation and, let’s be honest, greed the competing powers must be feeling over the fact that these reserves exist and are suddenly accessible.

It causes me to reflect that we, as everyday individuals, have huge untapped reservoirs of an important resource all around us, just waiting to be accessed. I’m talking about “grace.”

Too often our society tells us that the only person you can count on is yourself, you’ve got to go it alone. We too often feel like no one could understand what we are going through, that our circumstances are somehow unique. But the truth is that none of us is ever truly alone.

All of us, young and old, feel the need for understanding, love and forgiveness. Unfortunately, we too often tell ourselves we don’t deserve these very things. That no one could understand our situation. That we are not worthy of forgiveness. That we are unlovable.

These are lies.

I’m here to tell you some good news. I’ve surveyed the supply of grace in our community and it is abundant. There is more than enough for each of us. It is not in short supply as you may have been led to believe. All you need to do is to reach out and ask for it.

How do I know this? I’ve been in conversation with the main supplier. And God’s grace is inexhaustible.

Don’t believe me? Believe Paul, who said: “I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

The Rev. Lawrence Lee has been the pastor of the United Church of Two Harbors since 2003.

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