CHEAP GRACE?

Is my face like a sour apple
Do I bitterly complain
Of old, unhappy far off things
Of cherished hopes proved vain

Do I have a string of broken songs
That stem my restless pursuits
The glamour of that fatal fame
Drugging my mind at its roots

Am I a caffeineted one man show
Given to verbal acrobatics
Am I a very talented fool
Mind brilliant but morally stupid

Am I parched and cracked like overbaked bread
Am I known to be stiff and proud
Do I play to the modern no-holds-barred
And find life in the centre of a crowd

Our humanity is in dire-dire straits
"With all your might" in the end does not work
We are in clear and very present danger
Behind our self-brilliance it lurks

Our troubles have a redeeming feature
To show us an exquisite sublime plan
The truth that we really need a Saviour
And through GRACE then only we can

For our qualification is our disqualification
To receive this sweet interlude
When we REALLY REALLY get this
It happens - a vital shift in our attitude

In grace we are not unhappy for our lack
A stillness thats strangely compelling
Grace has its special blend of gladness
When in it we are fully dwelling

It was grace that broke open history
When He died that we all might live
In God's profound tapestry of events
Not cheap, but real grace did He give

So . . . . . .

Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me
I once was lost, but now am found
Was blind, but NOW I SEE . . . .

Robyn Toh
21st May 2007



Photograph : Taken by Greg Lim, Dec 2006