Updated: 29 September 2026
What happens when grace reaches someone we believe doesn’t deserve it?
We often celebrate grace when it is offered to us. We find comfort in the promise of forgiveness, restoration and a love that does not give up on us.
But what happens when that same grace reaches someone we struggle to forgive or love? Someone who has caused harm, someone we believe has gone too far, or someone we think should be beyond the reach of God’s mercy?
This is where grace can become uncomfortable. It challenges our assumptions, unsettles our sense of justice and forces us to confront the boundaries we place around who deserves forgiveness.
Grace That Offends is a seven-part journey through Scripture, exploring the lives of people who encountered a grace that challenged expectations and crossed boundaries we might have preferred to keep in place.
A Journey Beyond Lent
We began this series during Lent, and somehow, Lent never ended.
What was intended to be a seven-week Lenten reflection became a journey that extended well beyond the season itself. Yet we kept our Lenten focus, because the questions we began asking were never confined to a particular time of the Church year.
The heart of this series is grace: a grace that challenges our assumptions, unsettles our sense of who deserves forgiveness, and reminds us that God’s mercy extends further than we might expect.
Lent may have ended, but grace doesn’t observe a calendar.
These reflections have been formative for me, both in my faith and in my understanding of God’s grace. I’m excited to share them and to invite others into the questions that have shaped this journey.
Start Here: The Ash Wednesday Introduction
Ashes and the Doorway of Grace
Before the seven-part series begins, this introductory reflection sets the scene for the journey ahead.
Ash Wednesday reminds us that grace is not reserved for a particular kind of person. It meets us in our shared humanity, reminding us that we are all in need of mercy.
This reflection opens the door to the questions that run through the series: Who do we believe deserves grace? And what happens when God’s mercy reaches beyond the boundaries we have drawn?
Read the Ash Wednesday Introduction →
Explore the Seven-Part Series
Each reflection explores a different biblical story, inviting us to consider what grace reveals about God, ourselves and the way we see others.
1. Jonah and Nineveh
The First Sunday of Lent
What happens when God shows mercy to people we believe deserve judgement? Jonah’s story invites us to confront our discomfort with a grace that extends even to those we would rather see punished.
2. Manasseh
The Second Sunday of Lent
A king whose actions brought destruction encounters the possibility of restoration. Manasseh’s story challenges us to consider whether anyone can truly be beyond the reach of God’s mercy..
3. David
The Third Sunday of Lent
A familiar biblical figure whose failures remind us that grace is not a reward for getting everything right. David’s story invites us to reflect on repentance, accountability and the possibility of restoration.
4. Nebuchadnezzar
The Fourth Sunday of Lent
A powerful king is brought face to face with his own limitations. His story invites us to consider pride, humility and the surprising ways grace can reach those who seem to stand above others.
5. Paul
The Fifth Sunday of Lent
A man who once persecuted the followers of Jesus becomes one of the voices proclaiming the good news. Paul’s story challenges us to consider what grace can do with a life we might otherwise have written off.
Read Part 5 → coming soon
6. The Thief on the Cross
The Sixth Sunday of Lent
In his final moments, a condemned man receives a promise he could never earn. His story brings us face to face with the unsettling generosity of grace and the hope that can exist even at the very end.
Read Part 6 → coming soon
7. The Easter Reflection
Easter Sunday
Our journey concludes with the parable of the vineyard workers in Matthew 20, where the generosity of the landowner challenges our ideas about fairness, deservingness and the grace of God.
Read Part 7 → coming soon
A Final Thought
Grace is easy to celebrate when we are the ones receiving it.
But if grace is truly a gift, it cannot be limited to the people we believe deserve it.
Perhaps the question is not whether God’s grace is sufficient for others, but whether we are willing to accept just how far that grace might reach.
Welcome to Grace That Offends.
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