In The Broken Places

The headline last week read, “Lower Manhattan Thriving After 9/11, Study Says,” and the story talked about how it’s “back and better than ever” pointing to population, economic and other growth.

 

At first I thought, “That’s great!” And then I remembered a few things and it made even more sense…

 

One of the best parts of my all-time favorite novel, A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway goes, “If people bring so much courage to this world the world has to kill them to break them, so of course it kills them. The world breaks every one and afterward many are strong at the broken places…” Strong at the broken places. Lower Manhattan Thriving After 9/11.

 

Then I remembered, “But he (God) said, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong (2 Corinthians 12:9-10).”

 

Strong at the broken places. Lower Manhattan Thriving After 9/11. For when I am weak, then I am strong…

 

We know these are true. We’ve seen it many times. And yet, we are so used to avoiding our broken places – they make us uncomfortable, they can make us feel ashamed – we just want them to go away! We put a lot of effort to cover, hide, and numb them – not to much success though. I think part of the math is that if we “go there” to the broken places, we are just going to become more broken. But…

 

Strong at the broken places. Lower Manhattan Thriving after 9/11. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

 

It doesn’t help that we often think of “saints” as people who don’t have any broken places. I don’t think I ever thought that way, but I really don’t now. The most beautiful faith stories are the ones in which people saw the truth of their broken places, named them, let God in to heal them and then used that healing to comfort others. That’s the real deal! People who operate as if they have no broken places and who don’t need God or others are usually in the most pain and will only end up harming themselves even worse.

 

I know you and I have our broken places. Real and painful. Some are because of loss and grief. Some are because of being harmed or abused. Some are because we made destructive decisions. Some are because we are addicted. Some are because we are separated or divorced. Some are because of dysfunctional relationships. Some are because of a lost job or career. Some are because of heartbreak and losing heart. There is so much brokenness in our lives and in this world! Oh, how I wish it weren’t like this! But all I can tell you is how God works – works through – not around – all the brokenness. And, He often meets us most powerfully, most obviously, and most vividly at our broken places…

 

Strong at the broken places. Lower Manhattan Thriving after 9/11. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

 

If you are waiting for everything to go back to normal, if you are waiting to wake up as if it were all a dream, if you are waiting until you are better or “more together” – that may not work nor may not happen. But please know you already have everything you need for God’s healing and restoration to begin…

 

It doesn’t end at our broken places; it begins.

 

Amen!

 

PS – And I would go there with you if you needed me to…

 

 

 

Rev. Christopher B. Wolf

Isaiah 42:7

cbrianwolf@gmail.com

www.christopherbwolf.com

 

Christopher B. Wolf is the author of Giving Faith a Second Chance: Restarts, Mulligans and Do-Overs (2007) and the forthcoming, With You: Every Step of the Way (September, 2011).

 

“It is a matter of sharing and bearing the pain and puzzlement of the world so that the crucified love of God in Christ may be brought to bear healingly upon the world at exactly that point.” N.T. Wright

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Thorns

Thorns.

Ouch!

Pain.

Caution.

In the way.

Humiliation.

Grace?

The first time thorns are mentioned in the Bible is when God tells Adam that because he ate of the fruit, a consequence was that he would have to “work the fields for his food (as opposed to it all being provided in the Garden).” It says, “The ground will sprout thorns and weeds, you’ll get your food the hard way (Genesis 3:18 MSG).”

From the beginning to end, it seems that thorns, according to a Bible dictionary, represent curses (as in opposite of blessings), obstacles, as well as humiliation.

The people of God are warned by the prophet Jeremiah that unless they turned from their sinful ways and turned back to the Lord, “They will sow wheat but reap thorns; they will wear themselves out but gain nothing (Jeremiah 12:13 NIV).”

Something’s gone wrong – sowing wheat and reaping thorns.

Jesus taught that when it comes to hearing and receiving God’s Word, “Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants…the one who received the seed that fell among the thorns is the one who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke it, making it unfruitful (Matthew 13:7, 22 NIV).”

These thorns get in the way.

Then Jesus, the prince of Heaven, this very week, instead of being honored with his true crown – “…and they twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on his head. They put a staff in his right hand and knelt in front of him and mocked him (Matthew 27:29).”

“O sacred Head, now wounded, with grief and shame weighed down. Now scornfully surrounded with thorns, Thine only crown,” sings the hymn “O Sacred Head Now Wounded.”

And then there are the thorns that serve as constant reminders…

“To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassing great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me (2 Corinthians 12:7 NIV).”

As the season of Lent and purposefully humbling ourselves comes to a close, here in this week when we journey with Christ to His cross – it is essential for us to remember that the cross was and is necessary because this is a world full of sin and thorns. Whether we are pricked from time to time or if it is constant, the thorns of life remind us of our profound need for God’s strength, provision and grace. As Paul said, after sharing about his thorn and how he had pleaded with God three times to have it removed; the answer – “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”

On the surface, thorns are one of those parts of Creation that leave us wondering “Why?” Yet, we know that everything is created by God for a purpose. It is through the pain and struggle of the thorns of this world and our lives that God’s grace is made more visible, more urgent and more real. As many thorns as there may be in the world, the grace of God, the love of Jesus and the fruit of the Holy Spirit abound much more in, through, around, and in spite of, thorns.

Amen.

Discussion Questions

1. What are the thorns in your life? Can they be removed or burned? Are they permanent?
2. Are you able to see and use the thorns as “pointers” for God’s strength, provision and grace?
3. If you feel like you are reaping thorns – what might need to change?

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Power, Life and Grace

Please listen to/download our Easter service from this morning. On this page, go to sermon audio and click on Power, Life and Grace. The message was from Isaiah 25 and Mark 16. The Lord be with you…

http://www.firstgrandville.org/content.cfm?id=213

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Real Strength

2 Corinthians 12:9-10

Real Strength

 

Here is what the Lord told me, “My grace is enough; it’s all you need. My strength comes into its own in your weakness.” Once I heard that, I was glad to let it happen. I quit focusing on the handicap and began appreciating the gift. It was a case of Christ’s strength moving in on my weakness. Now I take limitations in stride, and with good cheer, these limitations that cut me down to size – abuse, accidents, opposition, bad breaks. I just let Christ take over! And so the weaker I get, the stronger I become.” 2 Corinthians 12:9-10 (The Message)

 

 

You know these phrases, “Only the strong shall survive” and “You have to be strong” and others.

 

And there is this whole school of thought that we have to teach everyone, especially kids, to hide, ignore, and avoid their weaknesses – only emphasize our strengths. How many times do we hear parents tell children, “Don’t cry” or “Stop crying”?

 

To be weak or to acknowledge weakness is associated with defeat. From NFL stadiums, to office cubicles to schoolyards, with our health, and even in churches, there cannot be any weakness – we just can’t have it. Right???

 

Somewhere along the way we learn or are taught that weakness is something to be hidden or avoided.

 

We have to be strong (whether we feel like it or not) and we have to project strength (whether true or not).

 

We have to cover up weaknesses so that no one knows.

 

Why?

 

Maybe it’s because we equate our strength with our sense of control. If we are strong, we come to believe that we control life to a certain extent.

 

Maybe it’s because weakness makes us and other feel uncomfortable. Maybe it makes us all feel like there is something wrong; especially if the “normative” state of things is “everything is ok, I am ok.”

 

Maybe it’s because in the times of our lives when we have felt weak, it just feels terrible and we never want to feel like that again.

 

I had an appendicitis when I was 23. I was lying on the floor of Jenny’s college apartment (we had plans to go to the Jersey shore for the weekend), writhing with the cramps that accompany a near-bursting appendix. And Jenny was on the phone with my Dad (EMT) who was trying to do an over the phone diagnosis. But the experience is something I will never forget. I felt so weak and broken. And about an hour later they carried me down the stairs in a stretcher – nothing of my own strength or power.

 

But you know, it’s not just a physical ailment that has the experience of weakness. When we lose a job or on the brink of losing a job we feel powerless. When loved ones are going through difficult times (they feel weak) but so do we as we can only watch (and pray). What about having a disease that takes life and living away? What about being one of the only people in your family or circle of friends who has an addiction and feeling like you can’t tell anyone? When people struggle with loneliness and just can’t find people to connect with. And you and I can think of many more scenarios in which people feel weak, but somehow still feel the need to project strength.

 

But then there is this idea from Paul.

 

“Here is what the Lord told me, “My grace is enough; it’s all you need. My strength comes into its own in your weakness.” Once I heard that, I was glad to let it happen. I quit focusing on the handicap and began appreciating the gift. It was a case of Christ’s strength moving in on my weakness. Now I take limitations in stride, and with good cheer, these limitations that cut me down to size – abuse, accidents, opposition, bad breaks. I just let Christ take over! And so the weaker I get, the stronger I become.” 2 Corinthians 12:9-10 (The Message)

 

It’s opposite day!

 

Glad to let weaknesses happen? Taking limitations such as abuse, accidents, opposition, bad breaks, in stride and with good cheer?

 

All based on the strength of Christ coming into its own in our weakness? In other words, we would never know the strength of Christ unless we acknowledge that we are weak.

 

But isn’t this dangerous? What if we acknowledged that we weren’t strong enough? What if we opened up and told people that we are weak? Wouldn’t people look at us differently and distance themselves?

 

They might. But hear Paul’s words again. “The weaker I get, the stronger I become.” It’s the very opposite of what we think and do.

 

Remember this, to save us, Jesus, the Son of God, Second Person of the Trinity, didn’t overwhelm enemies with His power (which He could have). How did He save us? By dying on the cross. It overturned (and still does today) all the worldly thinking of strength and power. God’s grace and power were fully evident in the powerless One on the cross, His death and the resurrection.  

 

Rejoicing in our defeats and weaknesses because it is in and through them that God is more evident and we find real strength. Celebrating when we are down and crushed because we know that Christ is going to do something amazing through it – and that it will be visible. Delighting in our mistakes and failures because that is when I am going to experience what it is really like to need and know God.  

 

When we truly depend on Him (and let go of our strength and power) – that is when we find real strength for life and for living.

 

It just might make all the difference. We have tried and tried on our own strength – sometimes it works, often it doesn’t. And when it hasn’t we just live in the illusion that our strength was enough.

 

But as Dr. Phil would say, “Is that working for you?”

 

God bless you today. I am praying that this might be “opposite day” for you.

 

Amen.

 

Discussion Questions

1. Why do we find it so hard to acknowledge needing God and others?
2. Can you remember where you learned about “being strong”? How has that shaped your life?
3. Have there been times when you have felt weak but thanks to God, have been strong?
4. What is one area of your life that you can say today – I am weak and I need help from God and others?

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