Making the Broken Beautiful



  Tuesday of the first week of Easter and like the early stages of an athletic season it is time to practice. Practice Resurrection!
One of the ways to do so is to look for signs of death transformed, new life where we thought it over. Certainly the seasons and the season of Spring is particularly instructive here. That which lay dormant over the winter now buds and blooms with new life. Color returns.
But what about those of us who don't see spring because of our location or our emotional state. What about those of us who simply see fragments of brokenness and shards caused by carelessness or chaos?
I offer a few comments about the Japanese art of kintsukori, an example of which appears above and will serve as a reminder in my new blog (https://blessingimagination.blogspot.com/) that God gathers up the fragments of our lives and weaves a beautiful beloved community blessed in union.
This Japanese art form involves taking the broken pieces of ordinary ceramic or pottery and rearticulating the whole with gold or platinum glue. The seams become the essential part of the whole. The result is an entirely new creation even more beautiful than the original. 
God seems to knit us together in similar fashion. The radiance of the Holy Spirit infuses the cracks of our lives. All of this repair and redemption is made possible really by cracks, by vulnerability. We foolishly try to appear uncracked, unbroken. Perhaps Leonard Cohen will help:

Anthem
Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack, a crack in everything
That’s how the light gets in.
Even now, Easter is happening, even now.
Blessings, M

Rev. Dr. Martha Tucker
"And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and walk humbly with your God" --Micah 6:8

“We seldom notice how each day is a holy place Where the eucharist of the ordinary happens, Transforming our broken fragments Into an eternal continuity that keeps us.” 
― John O'Donohue, To Bless the Space Between Us: A Book of Invocations and Blessings
I would love to live like a river flows, carried by the surprise of its own unfolding.

Comments

  1. Chaplain DanaApril 14, 2020 at 7:50 AM

    As usual, you got me right where I am this morning. I've been meditating on Awaken Me (Joyce Rupp) and especially "raise up my neglected gratitude, entice my tired enthusiasm". This was inspired by my spiritual community (via Zoom :) ), which I am virtually transformed by in these days of physical distancing. Thank you!

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