Letters - 1 April 2016

From grace-full Quakers to Asad Shah

Grace-full Quakers

The moment I read Rosalind Smith’s ‘Thought for the Week’ (4 March) ‘Grace-full Quakers’ I was instantly reminded of a hymn sung recently at a funeral/memorial service I attended. It is by Richard Gillard (born 1953) and goes like this:

Brother, sister, let me serve you,
Let me be as Christ to you;
Pray that I might have the grace to
Let you be my servant too.

We are pilgrims on a journey,
We are brothers on the road;
We are here to help each other
Walk the mile and bear the load.

There are three more verses and then it ends with a repeat of the first. I have come across it before and each time it affects me quite emotionally because I feel the writer puts his finger right on the secret. Doubtless, most volunteers experience that just by being able to help people they are themselves amply rewarded. If one can be open, also, to receive a little help, then that is when grace comes in. Reciprocal help, which does not need to be weighed, but simply and genuinely appreciated, enables the other to feel blessed, too.

Sheila Hodgkins

I want to thank Rosalind Smith for her article in the Friend on grace, especially where she writes that ‘we can all aspire to this state’. I think that in Christian doctrine grace is something granted to us, a gift we accept with profound gratitude but that we cannot strive for or earn. In her article, Rosalind describes grace more as an inner quality that shines through the person or is just there having an effect on others.

When I think of grace I also think of the gracefulness of animals, which is a kind of beautiful inherent quality, and I think this has to do with being in tune with and at ease with their surroundings, like a deer in the forest or a swallow in the air. So, perhaps, as she says, for humans grace reflects a person who is in tune with their spiritual as well as natural surroundings – and with themselves. It is something both external and internal. I also remember a saying that ‘heroism is grace under pressure’.

I am inspired by her piece to think of grace as something to aspire to, and pray for, however often we may ‘miss the mark’!

Kit Welchman

You need to login to read subscriber-only content and/or comment on articles.