Grace Came in a Casserole Dish

Mm-hm... well...
I want to tell you something true

The week my father died, I couldn't cook
(Couldn't cook)
I couldn't find the can opener or the grief
The house was full of people and no one knew my kitchen
And nothing in the icebox but a lemon and some mustard
I stood there in my socks, a grown man, lost
Then Sister Odessa came up the walk
(Up the walk)
With foil on top and a dish towel on her arm
She didn't say he's in a better place
She didn't say a word, she set it on the stove
(Set it on the stove)
She lifted off the foil, and steam came up like a sigh

Grace came in a casserole dish
Still warm, with a name on the lid
Nobody preached, nobody asked
Grace came in a casserole dish
Grace came in a casserole dish
(Mm-hm, grace)
(Name on the lid)

Mm, with a name on the lid
Mm, and a dish to bring back

It was noodles and cheese and a little burnt on the edge
It was nothing like my mother's, it was better that night
I ate it standing up, then sitting on the floor
And the floor held me up like it had practiced
Then Brother Mac brought a ham the size of a pillow
And Deacon Lee brought rolls, and Aunt Pearl brought tea
I'd spent a year not praying, not believing in much
But I believed in forks that evening, I believed in every fork
(Never saw who)

Grace came in a casserole dish
Still warm, with a name on the lid
Nobody preached, nobody asked
Grace came in a casserole dish
(Mm-hm, grace)
(Name on the lid)

Mm, with a name on the lid
Mm, and a dish to bring back
(Bring it back)
(Mm-hm)

Mm... mm...
(Mm-hm)
Mm... mm...

Now I know what the Gospel looks like
It looks like masking tape with a name on the lid
It looks like a dish you're asked to bring back
(Bring it back)
So the love can come around again
And now when the news comes, when someone's gone
I don't ask what I should say
I find a dish, I find a stove
(Find a stove)
(Walk it up)
I walk it up the walk
I walk it up the walk
Not to fix a thing, there's no fixing it
Just to stand there, just to stay a while

I used to think that God was far away
On some tall hill with all the answers
But God was in the Pyrex, in the tinfoil
God was in the pocket of a neighbor's coat
(In the tinfoil)
God was in the one who didn't ask
(In the tinfoil)
God was in the one who didn't ask
(Didn't ask)
(Mm-hm)
(In the pocket of a coat)

Grace came in a casserole dish
Still warm, with my name on the lid
Now I carry it out, door to door
Grace comes in a casserole dish
(Grace, grace)
(Name on the lid)

Nobody preached, nobody asked
Grace comes in a casserole dish

Bring the dish back when you're ready
Bring the dish back when you're ready
No hurry, there's no hurry
(No hurry)
Take your time, take your time
(No hurry)
Take your time, take your time
(Take your time)
Amen, and pass the rolls