Broken
Kintsukuroi. That’s a big word isn’t it? Sounds like onomatopoeia (another fun word!) for a sneeze. Actually it’s a Japanese word and it represents a very unique Asian custom. When the Japanese and Koreans mend broken objects that are precious to them, they repair the damage by filling the cracks with gold powder laced adhesive. They believe that when something’s suffered damage and has a history it becomes more beautiful. It gives it history, and it adds to its legacy. Look at the pictures below:
It’s a beautiful piece of artwork. When I break a plate, I get angry, or embarrassed. I often throw the plate away. Maybe I just don’t care and assume I will buy another one; just a quick trip down to Meijer. Replaceable, unimportant, disposable, valueless; do you ever feel that way? I bet you have. I know I have. Most of us experience this at some point. It’s too easy to view our broken selves as useless, worthless, and not worth the effort. But that’s not a fair assessment of our value and worth. If something as simple as a cup can be fixed and made into something more beautiful and valuable than it had been before, then surely something as uniquely precious and worthwhile as a human being can be changed from a broken person to an individual with amazing possibilities? But how does that happen? What changes us?
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
-2 Corinthians 5:17 (ESV)
God does more than fill our cracks with gold; he mends us with the blood of Christ. He restores us. He renews us. He changes us from a broken human to a being with a purpose and a God given future. From Useless to precious.
More than that, that same blood binds us together into the church. Out of many broken fragments is created one beautiful piece. We are not an accident, or a broken unwanted thing.
We are intentionally put together to experience God’s love.
We are intentionally brought together to share God’s love.
You are not broken my friends, you are beautiful. Made in God’s image and remade in Christ’s sacrifice. Precious to God, and a part of the greater body of Christ. You are a part of the Church.
How do you know for sure? Old and New Testament:
He has made everything beautiful in its time. – Ecclesiastes 3:11 (ESV)
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. – Ephesians 2:10 (ESV)
It’s a time of the year when we turn our attention towards the future. Yes, we live in a broken now, but that will not always be the case. As Martin Luther wrote in his small catechism:
In this Christian church He daily and richly forgives all my sins and the sins of all believers. On the Last Day He will raise me and all the dead and give eternal life to me and all believers in Christ. This is most certainly true.
Kintsukuroi by Christ
His artwork must be perfect right?
You are his artwork.
– Pastor Dan