At the end of Kubric’s film, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Commander David Bowman left the ship to explore a massive black monolith stationed between Jupiter and Io. This monolith represented mystery and higher intelligence in the universe. As he stared full into the mystery, he gave his final transmission:

My God, it’s full of stars!

In All Is Grace, a timeworn Brennan Manning, who has spent his entire life staring full in the face of the ultimate mystery of the universe, gave his final transmission:

My God, He’s full of grace!

Memoirs of Christians are important because they chronicle how God reaches people. We have scripture to read how God reached Israel and the early church. We have memoir to help discern his actions today.

Manning was very flawed man. He was a priest who got married. He was a drunk for most of his life. (Indeed, he resembles biblical heroes more than he does modern ‘saints’.) A couple things make Manning more unique than your average run-of-the-mill sinner:

1. He recognized his sin and confessed it freely (even founding a “Notorious Sinners” club).
2. He developed an eye to see the superabundant grace of God throughout his life.

God’s grace is more powerful than Manning’s sin or our own. That’s his message and it’s well worth reading.

Manning, Brennan. All is Grace: A Ragamuffin Memoir. David C. Cook, 2011.