The Banality of Grace

Most of the literature on spirituality has to do with our spiritual disciplines and the things we do to draw near to God. This book is about the ways in which God reveals Godself to us in the everyday and the difference that makes in our lives. We can usually muster the courage to live faithfully through the momentous events in our lives. Courage falters in the details of the day. So it is in the daily the mundane pedestrian prosaic quotidian and even banal that God shows us our place in Gods momentous story. We witness the banality of grace in our everyday lives: in worship as we seek reconciliation between individuals and groups of people in spiritual experiences that are more common to us than we realize in an ethic informed by the future revealed to us by God and by lives lived in response to this good future. The singularity of this book is the stories the author tells from his experience as well as from literature. He employs narrative to show rather than tell the reader about Gods presence in our lives. Many pastors add a story to their sermon to illustrate a point or provide a bit of comic relief. Bruce Modahl lyrically weaves stories throughout this book stories in which the Gospel is fully embedded if we but have eyes to see and ears to hear. Modahl tutors us to catch glimpses of Gods promise and presence in the ordinary and invites us to live in a new rhythm 6/4 time in response to Gods gift of grace. --Phyllis N. Kersten Retired Associate Pastor Grace Lutheran Church River Forest IL Pastor Modahls extensive experience of what he wonderfully calls the banality of grace shines through in these wonderfully-written and thought provoking essays. This book is a timely reminder that God has willed to use the ordinary elements of our everyday lives--like water words bread and wine--to bless us with the grace of the Lord Jesus. --Marcus Johnson Professor of Theology Moody Bible Institute Chicago IL Bruce K. Modahl was a parish pastor for 37 years. He is the co-author with F. Dean Lueking of Sermons of Consequence and is a frequent contributor to The Christian Century and publications of Augsburg Press. He writes and edits the newsletter for The Crossings Community and contributes lectionary text studies to the Communitys Sabbatheology blog.He and his wife Jackie split their time between Chicago Illinois and Bradenton Florida. They have two adult children and two grandchildren.