Bill Leslie: Moments of grace

Today seems the perfect day to share with you a new song and video called Moments of Grace.

The timing seems right because this is a week of both peril and promise.

It is a sad and sorrowful week with the possible peaking of the coronavirus pandemic.

It is also the Holy Week that culminates in celebrations of Easter and Passover.

My first moment of grace was a powerful one. I was 16 years old. My father had suffered an aneurysm and was in intensive care at a Charlotte hospital.

After visiting my father for the last time I felt a holy presence like never before. It carried me through his death three days later. I knew beyond doubt that I was not in control. Something was controlling me. Something was lifting me up and giving me confidence to be strong.

Since then I have experienced less dramatic moments of grace. You can tell when they happen. You can feel them. You can see them. Sometimes, you can even smell them and taste them. Perhaps it is a shaft of light in the forest, a splendid sunrise in the mountains or an unexpected phone call from a long-lost friend.

I am extremely grateful to Jessica Hall and The Hall Sisters of Garner for their beautiful strings and vocal arrangement for Moments of Grace.

I dedicate this song and video to author and theologian Frederick Buechner who helped me articulate moments of grace in his wonderful book "Now and Then: A Memoir of Vocation."

“Listen to your life. See it for the fathomless mystery it is. In the boredom and pain of it, no less than in the excitement and gladness: touch, taste, smell your way to the holy and hidden heart of it, because in the last analysis all moments are key moments, and life itself is grace.”