#seculargrace

[zenniferleeblance]

Census data and Pew surveys confirm it: America is unchurching itself, slowly, steadily. The reasons are layered—scandals, politics tangled with pulpits, the simple allure of Sunday mornings without obligation. Yet “spiritual but not religious” has become the fastest-growing affiliation. Here in Canada we’ve walked this road a decade ahead, learning that leaving the sanctuary doesn’t always mean abandoning wonder or kindness. What does it say about us when belief detaches from belonging, and still the centre holds?

[jumpn02]

Amazing Grace...

Taking a step away from the religious affiliation this lovely melody has, the first line is a stirring statement of salvation from one’s own demons. It starts “Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me…”

Powerfully moving when one is looking in the mirror and ashamed at who appears. The sins crafted in the mind can carve out an estate within it and furnish it with feelings of guilt, angst, frustration. Swimming in an ocean of lost opportunities and broken relationships is enough to submit to currents and drown. Listening to this one line one time in solitude and tranquility though can awaken the source of our lost joys. This one line is a beacon of hope summoning the strength to persevere until making it ashore.

Being a wretch is what kept me down. Being a wretch opened my eyes to the grace which is not forbidden to me. The recovery from being down and an outcast to elevating my spirit and evicting from my head the squatters of despair was spurred by that amazing Grace.