The weekend before last at Willow was created around Ethan Nickerson’s song “Grace”.  (Those of you from Grand Rapids may know Ethan’s music from Mars Hill or his band The Mines…he’s a great singer, musician, and songwriter.  And a really great guy.)  Anyway, after beginning with Matt Lundgren’s song “Love Justice” and an expanded version of “O For A Thousand Tongues”, we launched into an deep meditation on Grace:  how beautiful it is and yet how often we run from it. Holly began by sharing a few thoughts about Victor Hugo’s Les Miserables and how she wrestles with grace.  Her final question was “Am I ever going to trust this grace? Or am I going to be a person of scarcity, constantly grabbing, paying penance and running…” This honest confession bled right into Ethan’s song…

Download “Grace” from itunes here.

After this haunting reflection on Grace, we landed in a minute or two of silence.  Space.  A small chance for us all to say exactly what we needed to say to God.  This was my favorite part of the service. To close the experience we stood and sang the old Wesley hymn “And Can it Be (Amazing Love)”, and marveled together that God could love screw-ups like us.  But he does!  Grace is real.  And even though we run from it every day, and kick and scream until it catches us, it will not stop the chase.  God, thank You for not giving up on us…

Finally, after the service, I did a short interview with Ethan about the weekend.  Here’s what he said…