Broken & Healed

I do not pretend to know much about the Church and her fears and doubts and joys and hopes and shortcomings and what preparation is needed, exactly, for when Christ comes for her. 

But I will say - this revolution of vulnerability, authenticity, and frank brokenness within the Church is beauty. In a first-world that is rocketing toward post-Christian, the time for all things real is come. This is a world that is crying out for a little dirt under our fingernails and dusty feet; because, as my Momma once said: "Sweetie, no one wants to sit & listen to someone who they think hasn't walked through anything."

So let us be vulnerable, let us be authentic, and by all means let us be frankly broken; but, Church...

let us also be healed. 

let us be righteous. 

let us be the sick that have been made well. 

let us be the slaves that have been set free.

I read an interview of a Christian who dealt with alcoholism. She had been sober for quite some time but continued to attend AA meetings. One of the questions asked was why she still attended the meetings, if she was doing so well, and her answer stuck with me.

[Paraphrased] One of the reasons, she said, is to remember. To be close to those still in the battle or just conquering, to remember where we came from. To remember life before victory so we don't forget. Another reason is to then encourage. To stand alongside those still battling and just conquering and say, "Me too. I was there too."

Let us remember our brokenness, but not dwell in it. 
Let us turn to those who are still battling or just conquering and say, "Me too. I was there too." 

On the cross, Christ's hands were vulnerable, and the pain was all too real, and He was physically broken, but, when Christ was broken, healing & redemption poured out from Calvary with a flood of grace.

We need to be honest about the fact that we had to die, Church. 

That Christ's physical death & resurrection made our spiritual one possible.

And then, with grace and humility and deep joy and hope, we need to recognize that Christ didn't stay in the grave, and neither should we.

And then, if our hands and feet our made dirty may it be not from sin, but from service. From reaching out to the still broken and leading them to a place of healing. May it be from the messy work of leading others to the cross.