Toni Morrison

I was re-reading Toni Morrison's novel Beloved. There Baby Suggs describes her "call" to ministry: "slave life had 'busted her legs, back, head, eyes, hands, kidneys, womb and tongue,' she had nothing left to make a living with but her heart - which she had put to work at once.... she became an unchurched preacher.... She told them that the only grace they could have was the grace they could imagine. That if they could not see it, they would not have it.'" Later in the novel Baby Suggs grows blind to that grace, but for now it burns brightly. As a church we need to imagine the grace spoken of by this unchurched preacher. This grace enfolds a woman, oceanographer bishop to preside over our church. Paul said, "there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus" (Galatians 3: 28). This grace guides us to an open place where all find shelter, Christians of every sexual orientation - God rescues us all because God delights in us all (Psalm 18: 20). If only we can imagine such grace.