Monday of Lent 2

Amazing Grace  - Lutheran Service Book #744

Ephesians 2:1, 4-9; John 1:14, 16-17; Hebrews 4:16; Romans 322b-24

Amazing Grace – how sweet the sound-

That saved a wretch like me!

I once was lost but now am found,

Was blind but now I see!

The writer of the hymn, Amazing Grace praises God for His mercy. It’s the acknowledgment how He saved a wretched sinner. We each stand before God blind and lost to sin, until God finds us and gives us sight.

Grace is an undeserved favor or gift. Grace is God’s riches given at Christ’s expense. Grace is the undeserved forgiveness, kindness and mercy that God gives us in the person of Jesus Christ. Grace is not a license to do evil. Rather, grace is an escape route. Grace is God establishing us to be His very own.

Rejoice and be glad. Your status before God is a testimony of your heavenly Father’s mercy and grace.  

O Lord, our heavenly Father, almighty and everlasting God, You have safely brought us to the beginning of this day. Defend us in the same with Your mighty power and grant that this day we fall into no sin, neither run into any kind of danger but that all our doings, being ordered by Your governance may be righteous in Your sight; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.[1]

---

[1] Lutheran Service Book, Collect for Grace; © 2006 Concordia Publishing House, St. Louis