Harmony of Grace

This past weekend, Mel and I attended the baptism service of Zoey Gerber. She is the daughter of two of our closest friends, Jaco and Lisa. It was an incredibly special service that we were honoured to be a part of. Baptism is one of two sacraments that are officially recognized by most mainline churches (the other being Holy Communion). A sacrament can be defined as an outward, visible sign of an inward, invisible grace . In less academic terms, it means that through the sacraments, we are able to experience the grace of God in tangible ways. The sacrament of baptism represents two of God's graces to us. First, it is a sign of being welcomed into the Christian Church family. This welcoming into God's family is symbolised by the community of believers that are present to witness a baptism service. In most churches, the congregation are invited to make promises to nurture and care for the newly baptised person. It is a visible reminder of the loving and welcoming spirit...

It is that time of the year in South Africa where our social media feeds are flooded with graduation posts; from relatives, friends, old class-mates from school, and people we've never met whose photos were shared by mutual friends. Last week, I was lucky enough to attend my sister's graduation ceremony at UKZN as she received her Masters in Hydrology. A truly amazing achievement! It was the first graduation ceremony I have ever attended and I was struck by the overwhelming sense of shared pride and joy in the auditorium. Even though every person was there for a particular person's achievement, there was a communal sense of accomplishment and appreciation for what each and every student had individually achieved. "Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn." - Romans 12:15 (NIV) But this is not always the case. How often do we do exactly the opposite of what this verse is saying? Perhaps it is jealousy or possibly our competitive...