Flashes of Grace: 33 Encounters with God

by Patrick Henry, Joan D. Chittister (Foreword)

“I don’t know how to say what the grace of God is. What I can say is what it’s like for me.” 

We all know about grace being amazing—after all, there’s a whole song about it—but Patrick Henry reminds us that that’s not all it is. It’s also intimidating, disorienting, demanding, reassuring, and sometimes even just downright mind-boggling. Describing thirty-three different aspects of grace based on his everyday experiences, Henry tells the story of a grace that is wide-ranging and comprehensive—if not always comprehensible. Rather than trying to capture and tame his encounters with God, he lets the mystery of memory speak for itself, exemplifying his mantra that being a Christian is about being “an explorer, not a colonizer.” 

Flashes of Grace is wise and grounded, earnest and light, faithful and quirky. Henry describes encountering grace in airports, baseball, hazelnuts, and just about anywhere else you can imagine, while engaging with dialogue partners ranging from King Saul and Saint Augustine to Yogi Berra and Captain Picard. For anyone longing to connect (or reconnect) with God, this book provides a surprising journey that broadens perspectives and explores strange new worlds, while loosening stiff spiritual joints so movement can be free and spontaneous.

320 pages, Kindle Edition

Published February 2, 2021

About the author

Patrick Henry was an American attorney, planter and politician who became known as an orator during the movement for independence in Virginia in the 1770s. A Founding Father, he served as the first and sixth post-colonial Governor of Virginia, from 1776 to 1779 and from 1784 to 1786.

Henry led the opposition to the Stamp Act 1765 and is remembered for his "Give me liberty, or give me death!" speech. Along with Samuel Adams and Thomas Paine, he is regarded as one of the most influential champions of Republicanism and an invested promoter of the American Revolution and its fight for independence.

After the Revolution, Henry was a leader of the anti-federalists in Virginia. He opposed the United States Constitution, fearing that it endangered the rights of the States as well as the freedoms of individuals; he helped gain adoption of the Bill of Rights. By 1798 however, he supported President John Adams and the Federalists; he denounced passage of the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions as he feared the social unrest and widespread executions that had followed the increasing radicalism of the French Revolution.