grace
the most basic fact of all life – its given-ness. Life comes to each of us as a gift from a source beyond ourselves, beyond our parents and beyond even their parents’ parents. It is not earned. This fact may be so fundamental to our very being that it simply becomes part of ordinary routine and overlooked in its extraordinariness. By contrast, appreciation of it may inspire an attitude of general thankfulness. For Christians, the spirit of generous giving is structured into all of life, being expressive of the love of God as manifest in all creation, in Jesus’ defeat of division and death, and in the communal transformation which is yet ahead for everyone.