We believe that we will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they will. —Acts 15:11
This morning’s service can really be encapsulated by the Martin Luther quote that you’ll find in the inside cover of the bulletin: “Nothing can take away sin except the grace of God.” Just like the psalmist puts it in Psalm 21, this morning we will “sing of [His] power and grace” (The King in Your Strength Shall Be Glad—Psalm 21). We’ll acknowledge that we are daily debtors to grace, and we ask for yet more grace to bind our wandering hearts to our Savior (Come, Thou Fount Of Every Blessing). We look to Jesus as the source of this “righteousness which grace imputes and faith alone receives” (Fountain Of Never Ceasing Grace). Though convicted by the “broken law,” we can trust in Jesus for mercy (Come, Ye Souls By Sin Afflicted), knowing that He will sustain us and crown us with grace (My Heart Is Filled With Thankfulness). Though we were once enemies, Christ “called us by His grace and taught us,” hushing the thunder of the law and presenting us to His Father washed in the in the blood of the Lamb (Let Us Love And Sing And Wonder). This truly “amazing grace” is central to the Christian life. It is so central that it was hotly debated at the Jerusalem council in Acts 15, so essential that questions about it launched a reformation in the 16th century, and so vital that we sing about it here at Parish every week.
—Henry C. Haffner
