Grace Notes
a weekly blog by Steven Norris
An Instrument of Peace
By Steven Norris The ballots have been cast and counted. The political phone calls and text messages have been silenced. No more ads fill our television or computer screens. A winner has been declared. Some are jubilant. Others lament. Some are angry. Others are...
The Sacred Work of Re-Membering
By Steven Norris We live in a fragmented world. Tribalism, jealousy, ego, pride, gossip, fear, death — the sources of division are as old as time itself. By the third chapter of Genesis, the story of humanity is forever marred by alienation and relational rupture. How...
Running Your Own Race
By Steven Norris I grew up with a younger brother who seemed determined to outdo me. If I earned a good grade, he aimed for a better one. If I achieved something worth celebrating, he found a way to raise the bar. I did well in school. He did a little better. I scored...
Where Is Your Home?
By Steven Norris When was the last time someone hurt you? Maybe it was a word spoken in anger, a look of disappointment, or a blatant act of disrespect. We all know the sting of being wounded, whether intentionally or unintentionally. What do we do with our pain? Do...
Unloading Zone
By Steven Norris There are some things we were never meant to carry. Most of us know the feeling of being overloaded. We carry calendars packed with obligations, expectations we cannot possibly meet, worries about people we love, regrets about things we cannot...
When God Gets Bigger
By Steven Norris For more than seventy-five years, parents and children alike have been captivated by C. S. Lewis’ The Chronicles of Narnia. In these stories, children find their way into a magical world populated by talking animals, daring adventures, and battles...
Same Jersey, Different Positions
By Steven Norris With the arrival of fall, those of us who live in the southeastern United States are summoned to sacred spaces — fields of green lined with white stripes. It is a place where allegiances are declared, strategies are executed, and battles are waged. Of...
Sheltered by Grace
By Steven Norris Some of my earliest memories of church involve Sunday nights at Wesley Chapel United Methodist Church. Sunday mornings were carefully planned, while Sunday nights were a little more unpredictable. My grandmother often moved from the organ to the...
Built to Last
By Steven Norris When my wife and I got married, we faced a problem common to many young couples: we had no money. We had a place to live, but not enough to furnish it the way we might have liked, so we accepted whatever hand-me-downs our families offered. To fill the...
For the Glory of God
By Steven Norris Why is it so hard to preserve a clean margin? For years, I have carried a notebook in my bag where I jot down sermon ideas, to-do lists, funny stories, and anything else I might want to remember. For more than fifteen years, I have preferred graph...