Finding Beauty and Healing in that Which is Broken

Kintsugi is the Japanese tradition of pottery that celebrates those places of brokenness. A broken piece of pottery is glued back together, but instead of hiding the cracks, they are celebrated with gold highlights. It is the brokenness and the healing that creates the beauty of the piece.

These days, we and our world can often feel shattered. And many times the pieces don’t feel like they fit back together. But from this brokenness, God can create healing and beauty in our lives. May we have the courage to accept that healing and beauty this Lent, and then share it with all of God’s creation.

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If you think about it, Christianity is kind of an odd way to live. We base our lives on someone who seemingly failed, who tried to convince the people of his time of God’s love but in the end was killed for trying.

But as we know, it is that very failure, that willingness to die, that did indeed show God’s love to us. Jesus’ faithfulness, even in death, created the space and the reality of the resurrection. God and new life did not triumph in spite of Jesus’ death but BECAUSE of it.

Failure, sin, unfaithfulness, have been a part of our faith story from the garden of Eden until today, and from the looks of things, they will continue to be an integral part of being human.

Lent has historically been a time of renewal for Christians, a time to fast, pray, and give alms (or donations) as a means to prepare ourselves for the celebration of the resurrection. Too often, though, that time of renewal has focused on our failings and our lives of sin that we often can’t seem to overcome, no matter how hard we try.

Don’t get me wrong! We need to do our best to change the ways we are hurting ourselves, other people, and God’s creation. And change is possible. But the path to change doesn’t focus on our sins and all the ways we fail to live up to the people God created us to be.

We need to accept the reality of our failings and to take a different path (the biblical meaning of the word “repent,” to turn away). But that path is not filled with guilt but with love and forgiveness.

This Lent, my hope for all of us is that we discover our brokenness, and the brokenness of the world around us, are actually glimpses of God’s beauty and the means to healing and wholeness.