Today's grace came to me from a devotional reading:
from: "My Personal Daily Prayer Book", Christine Dallman, Margaret Huffman
2009 Publications International, Ltd.

Administering the healing power of love to defeat the destructive power of hatred;
wielding the freedom of truth to do battle against the bondage of lies;
ambushing the fear of death with the hope of life.
As the fight of faith goes on all around us, may we find ourselves fighting for love, truth, and life.

Grace seems to take so long. We pray to not loss hope before grace comes in its fullest.

www2.elca.org/peacenotwalls/wall/forbidden.html

Conferences in February

Every February, Lutheran clergy in Atlantic Canda, get together for a conference.  For many of us it is the highlight -the grace- in the middle of a dull month. It allows us a few days to breathe between the end of Christmas and Annual Meetings, and the start of Lent and Easter.
 It is a time of supporting each other, telling and listenng to each other's stories, planning for the future, and a time to worship and pray together.
 I am grateful today for my colleagues who shared of themselves with me the past few days.
I was graced by them and the ministry of the Bishop and Assistant to the Bishop.  We were all graced by the presence of Anglican brothers and sisters.
 We were graced with conversation that allowed for honesty and a chance to dream big.
 The Bishop's sermon today quoted Henri Nouwen - that joy is like a cat - it is not something we can try to grab because it will run the other way, but sometimes it rubs against our legs and ends up in our laps -these moments are grace.  The conference was joy.