This past week I have been at the funeral service of Brenda Weisiger, saw the livestream of Virginia Riedthaler’s funeral, and was able to officiate the wedding of two of our alumni, Emma Pollard and Hunter Garrison. Weddings and funerals are called “occasional services” in church terms – services that are not tied to the Church Year, but are tied to the occasions that they memorialize. In some ways, even when we may not be a part of these services, they communicate an important reality — Jesus doesn’t show up in our lives just on Sundays.

Instead, Jesus is a part of our entire lives: from baptism to funeral and everything in between. Our lives are saturated in His grace that shows up between Sundays. That grace is there at the beginning of our lives, the milestones we celebrate through out lives, and the moment when our families and friends give thanks for our lives. God’s grace is always there, always a part of our lives – sometimes, it just takes a little liturgy to recognize it.

That is what makes the wedding and funeral services so important, not that by them we extract God’s blessings and grace — that is already there as He has promised — but that those services help us to see clearly His everyday grace applied to moments important and mundane. There is an interesting book out there called “Every Moment Holy” that comes up with short liturgies for even the small moments in our lives: doing the laundry, drinking your morning coffee, before shopping, when you see an ambulance speeding down the road, etc. It’s a good book, but you don’t need it — all you have to do is look around and see God’s grace at work.

At almost every moment of our lives, there is an opportunity for an “occasional service,” a recognition of what God has given us and of what God is doing in us. So this week, take notice of God’s grace in the midst of getting in your car or setting down to work or before calling a loved one. Notice where God’s grace is, and let it become a moment memorializing what He is doing in your life.