Grace note: Anne Watson’s Thought for the Week
‘Behaving as if enveloped in grace does not come naturally to all of us.’
When Britain Yearly Meeting issued a statement about the death of Elizabeth Windsor (in which we gave thanks for the ‘grace of God shown in her life of service and faith’) I found myself considering the meaning of the phrase ‘the grace of God’. Some Friends question the use of words like ‘grace’, for fear that they can mislead, or make superficial what used to be deep. But I find myself using it more and more, and wonder how I managed without it.
Why don’t Friends baptise children? Some Christians believe that children are born with original sin, and that christening is essential to ensure they can go to heaven. I use the phrase ‘born in grace’ to describe all our births. By that I mean we are born enveloped in the mystery of life, with all its potential for goodness and loveliness. The phrase ‘grace of God’ is shorthand for me, because my recognition of God is as an inner, inward, outer and outward flow of goodness beyond words. This, I have learned, is shared among all people and feels transcendent. It means the grace of God is always with us.
When a Friend dies it is customary to talk about the grace of God in their life as if it can be identified, perhaps listed in the form of characteristics, commitments, actions and achievements. But if we are all enveloped in the grace of God, such listings will always be incomplete. We are limited to talking about outward evidence. I have learned that, for some people, deep goodness is a fundamental characteristic of which they are themselves unaware; they are good because they cannot be anything else. Sometimes, goodness is the outcome of a conscious choice of duty, or of a belief about what Jesus might have done. It might be in choosing an action that causes least harm, or even a reluctant conformity to the good behaviour of those around us. I suspect there are times when I have acted in a good way but with very little grace. Is grace an important idea if we are only acting within ‘good’ norms, without a deep personal goodness?
Behaving as if enveloped in grace does not come naturally to all of us, myself included. So it is important to hear about, and see, how the grace of God can flow through the whole of someone’s life. While some can ‘Be patterns, be examples’, the rest of us can, as in a chorus line, sing ‘I can do that’, and learn to act similarly.
For those who are modest about, or unconscious of, their grace, I think about the purpose of grace notes in music. At the start of Berlioz’s The Shepherds’ Farewell, grace notes nudge us towards the main chords and prepare us for the melody. The piece would not have its poignancy without them. We have Friends in our Meetings who do this for us.
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