A message channeled during a group session on April 7, 2024, by Rev. Jeff Munnis about acknowledging grace for ourselves and others.

Transcript

It is natural for people to feel doubt. It’s natural to feel like there’s always going to be consequences from the things we find uncomfortable or burdensome. And when we think about grace or forgiveness, we often think of grace in retrospect, meaning that something we have already done is what needs grace, but we need grace in the present moment. But grace is also something that is paid forward for us, meaning that we can expect to receive grace in the future. That when we make choices where our heart is in the right place, where we’re seated in a place of seeking truth, the grace is going to be there even if we happen to choose something that doesn’t work out or something that’s incomplete.

But there is one requirement for grace that people often don’t think about, and that is truth. Within the person there needs to be an acknowledgment of the truth, and when we’re in denial, even though grace is available to us, it’s hard for us to experience the grace that we’ve been given. There’s an openness to the truth, even in our most difficult or most dark or most sad, depressive state, the grace is there, but we can’t lie to ourselves about what we’re feeling or what it is that we feel most urgent in our life at the time. There isn’t a need for us to blurt out the truth to anybody that we happen to be speaking with or anybody that passes by—it’s an internal acknowledgment; an acknowledgment to yourself that you know the truth; an acknowledgment to yourself that you understand some aspect. And if you need help with more than one aspect of your depression or your despair or anger or fear, even the ability to acknowledge a piece of that is a step toward grace. It’s a very mutual state of being, and grace is a state of being. It’s something that we rest in. It’s something given to us like a bubble that surrounds us. It surrounds all of creation. Everything that happens happens through grace and through mercy. So, we rest in it. Its being is part of our being. And where our being merges into the greater being around us, grace is always part of that merging together, that integration of all the love in our life, of all of our experiences, and how all of those experiences lead us toward integration.

For us here in this world, we are always going to feel a sense of “I-ness” or identity, and we’ll have those fleeting moments of complete union or bliss or an experience that leaves us with a feeling of expansion within ourselves, and those being part of our practice can grow. And even though we may have a glimpse of the infinite power that exists or the infinite knowledge that’s available to us, it is just a glimpse and it’s not our responsibility to hold that or to absorb that, but simply to allow ourselves to continue to unfold inside of that grace.

When we come here, grace is an element of our choice to come. In this material realm, there are so many things that we learn about suffering, about growth, about perspective, about what it means to be selfish or unselfish, but also what we are learning is that very same grace that is part of us. And in acknowledging this grace within ourselves, and acknowledging the grace that exists for other people, our framework of the world expands. And even though we construct much of what we see and do, by acknowledging the grace that exists within us, we keep ourselves from creating artificial boundaries that are too limiting; and still, we are able to have boundaries that protect us. And so we learn to navigate the world, both in the creating of boundaries, but also in the taking down of the tearing down of the boundaries.

To learn the fullness of grace is not only a continuous process, it is a life-long process without end, and even in death, we will find grace surrounds us and is within us. No matter what our transition is, there is the moment where all those things that bind us, that limit us are loosened and we are freed. To be truly free, we have to be in grace. We have to recognize the grace and the freedom as gifts. If we’re not able to experience the grace or be able to give grace, our world can shrink. And so, the opportunities for us are always multiple opportunities. Any opportunity that seems lost or that is finished, even though we may have regrets or unfinished business, there is still going to be grace. And even the acknowledgment that we receive this grace can work in ways that eliminates karma, changes the circumstances and outcomes of our conflicts. It comes to us in ways that surprise us, and sometimes our prayers need to fully accept grace in whatever form it comes so that we’re not limited by our own thoughts about what forgiveness or truth or love may look like in this world.

(S.G. - Can you share a few qualities that illuminate the essence of grace?) First, there’s an appreciation of what is. No matter how beautiful or difficult that might be, this element of truth helps that aspect of grace come through. It’s almost as if we have eyes that look or have a softer look upon the world so we can sit with that kind of gaze or a loving gaze toward whoever is across from us or whatever is across from us in the world. Second is that we don’t feel the burden to be right or to have an answer—that there is an answer that’s there for us. It doesn’t have to come from us. It might come from a voice inside of us or a voice of a friend or family member. But we’re not responsible for bringing it to the open. We’re not responsible for telling the world, so there’s no burden that comes with that grace. And if it comes for us, it is ours to hold, to have, to feel, and we don’t have to worry about sharing it. We might share it with others, but there’s no obligation that comes with this grace. The other thing is a sense or a feeling that things will be okay. That there’s no truth too terrible to tell. No truth that cannot be seen or heard or exposed in some way to us or to those impacted by the truth. That when the truth arrives, there’s actually a release of energy, and part of that energy of release is grace, another part of it is love. So those are three prominent qualities, or in some ways you might even say episodes that occur with grace and are independent of the place or the point of grace for us. The grace may be in a specific area, say a relationship that changes or in a gift that we receive, but those other qualities surround it.

(A.R. - How does grace move or how can it be received when we cannot accept parts of ourselves, or wish for things not to be the way they are?) Grace is a lot like presence. Remember that it’s a state of being and it’s part of our being at all times. So even though we might describe something as having movement, meaning that it’s unfolding or that it’s appearing or that it seems to come to us, it is already there or already with us. So that’s the main part of the question. We can also ask for grace. We can ask for grace or our ability to accept the truth or for forgiveness or for having a sense of release knowing that every part of our being at all times exists in a mutual universe. The mutual partner for all of us is always God. We might see our brother or sister or partner or friend across from us, but the mutuality that exists is all shared or shared as God in the relationship. So, we can ask, we can have a conversation or even a dialogue of some type that expresses a willingness to accept the grace that can’t be seen, or a willingness to sit patiently until grace, as we might say, arrives, sit in a state of anticipation, try to limit our expectation of a particular outcome. And then when we are in that place of faith about our need for grace, we don’t have to linger and sit and continue the circle around ourselves with our thoughts and prayers, the simple prayers, the simple understanding of this can be just a matter of minutes, and then with that anticipation, we get up and we go out about life in the ways that are rewarding to us and we are patient.

I think it’s important to understand that any of these things that come up that we feel something about, one response to them can always be prayer and meditation. There’s other active things we can do that we might find individually fulfilling—some journaling or some creativity of painting art or something like that, or even just going into nature but sometimes that motion, that activity needs to come after there has been just enough time to sit in a way that we can acknowledge the truth, but not beat ourselves to death with the truth or wallow in the truth. There’s nothing to be gained by that after there’s been a prayer for help or an acknowledgment of help. There’s not a lot of need for repetition.

Someone was going to ask how to let go, and there’s a certain amount of trust that goes with the letting go. It’s not that in letting go we forget our experiences or that we try to bury the past. It’s almost a process of integration and unfolding, and the experience or the difficulty or the need for the grace becomes part of the fabric of who we are. It contributes to the rich tapestry that is our life. It is part of our knowledge and wisdom that comes from our experience. And our experiences are meant to confirm our faith. Our experiences are meant to confirm the role of love and truth in our lives. Our experiences are there to help us see and hear in the world around us and to participate in that same creation, that same continuity of life.