Alison Longstaff, October 5th, 2014
Bath Church of the New Jerusalem
Jeremiah 18:1-6; Luke 9:12-17; Heavenly Secrets
2343
Take.
Bless. Break. Share.
Did
you notice this progression in our reading from Luke today?
Take.
Bless. Break. Share.
Take.
Bless. Break. Share.
It
struck me, as I researched this story, that this is what we can do in
response to God’s gift of life to us: accept it, give thanks for it, break into
it, and share it. Also, this is what the
gift of life does to us. It comes on us
and blesses us … and breaks us.
Many
of us here have parts of us that feel broken.
Though we do our best to look fine most of the time, we also hide the
parts of ourselves that feel, well, “unsuitable for public consumption.” We all
have memories of words and behaviors of which we are not proud. All of us at
some point have said the wrong thing and hurt someone else’s feelings. We have
all, at some point done the wrong thing and offended someone. For that matter,
sometimes we do the right thing, and still someone misunderstands and gets
offended. No one can live in any real community
for any length of time and not experience how communications can go wrong, good
intentions can result in hurt, and resentments can erupt in sharp words. Is there any congregation on this planet that
has not had one scandal or another based on clashing personalities, conflicting
control issues, poorly chosen words, or disappointed expectations?
Nadia Bolz-Weber,
a tattooed pastor in Denver, Colorado, made famous for her colorful language
and raw honesty, jokes that she thinks her church
motto should be, “We will disappoint you.” She believes in reality over naive
idealism. She insists, “Any human
community is flawed and will end up hurting people and not living up to their
ideals.” So tells each new inquirer, “Listen. I need you to hear me say this: ‘At
some point, this church will not meet your expectations. It will let you down.
At some point I’ll say something stupid and hurt your feelings.’” She then invites
each one to consider at the beginning
if they are willing to continue in the community after that happens. “Because,”
she says, “when we leave the minute our community disappoints us, we miss out
on the way that grace can come in and fill in those cracks that are left behind
from our brokenness and our mistakes, and it is too beautiful to miss.” (from the CBC radio show, "Tapestry" Season 20, Episode 3, "The Irascible Pastor") 
We
are broken and we are blessed by each other. We cannot have one without the
other, it seems.
In my
life I have often felt not so much like the useful vessel I intend to be but
more like a broken blob. Have you ever
wondered if you were just too broken or flawed to ever become the person you
dream you could be?
But
notice this: the pot is in the Potter’s hands while the deformity
happens. It isn't that the Potter was careless, yet the pot is spoiled. It isn't the Potter’s fault, and it isn't the clay’s fault either, even
though the flaw is inherent in the clay.
This text is not telling us: “Be careful because you too might
mess up like the pot.” No. This story is in God’s Word exactly this way because
this is how life goes. We will be broken. We can’t help it. We come
flawed. That’s not the point. The point is that we are held, known, and loved
right through the brokenness and back to wholeness. The text is reassuring us
that we are always in the Potter’s hands. He’s never faltered for a minute. We
are already being made new.We never leave God’s hands. The brokenness is always a gateway to a new and more beautiful plan.
Besides,
we’re the ones that want perfection straight out of the gate, not God.
God
designed a system in which being broken is part of the process.
Honestly,
in this very little denomination, inspired by the writings of a brilliant man,
whom some considered a bit of a crack-pot, we of all people should recognize
that sometimes the light gets in best through the cracks. Swedenborg saw
visions; he talked to dead people; he said there are people living on the moon.
But despite his oddness and his unorthodox teachings—many of which still leave
us scratching our heads—his writings have also brought healing, enlightenment,
and new hope to tens of thousands. He
has opened the Bible in a whole new way.
He has taught us about heaven and hell, the internal meaning to the
Bible, about Love and Wisdom, and about salvation for peoples of all faith and
all walks of life.
So
let’s hear it for crack-pots! Let’s hear it for anyone who is brave enough to
speak their truth into a world that isn't ready to hear it. Let’s hear it for all
the ways and means that God devises to help the light break through into our
lives.
After
all, Jesus was considered a crack-pot. He certainly was broken for His efforts
to speak the truth into an unready world. And He certainly blessed us by His
willingness to be broken. Perhaps that
is part of what he was trying to tell us—that we need not fear brokenness. That
brokenness is always the path to being made new.
I
think it is in our nature to fear our brokenness. We want to hide it, cover it
over, and paint a smiley face on it. We feel sure that it means we are weak,
that we are not good enough, that we should be ashamed, that we have
failed. But
it is not so. It simply means we are human. It means we are alive.
Take. Bless.
Break. Share.
Isn't
it so often true that our vulnerabilities end up being our strengths?
Accept
your life! Give thanks for it, for it is perfect, no matter how inadequate it
may seem. Break into it, live it, eat it
up, let it change you. And share the gifts you are given, no matter how meager
they look in your hands. In God’s hands they become an overflowing abundance.
Yes,
this life can sometimes break us. But embrace it—all of it—for it is only
through the breaking and the eating that we find and share our deepest
blessings.
Amen.
Rewritten from a sermon preached January 28th, 2007,
Kitchener, Ontario
Readings
Jeremiah
18:1-6 (NKJV)
The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord,
saying: “Arise and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will
cause you to hear My words.” Then I went down to the potter’s house,
and there he was, making something at the wheel. And the vessel that
he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter; so he made it again into
another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to make.
Then the word of the Lord came to me,
saying: “O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter?”
says the Lord. “Look, as the clay is in the potter’s hand,
so are you in My hand, O house of Israel!
Luke 9:12-17
(NKJV)
When the day began to wear
away, the twelve came and said to Him, “Send the multitude away, that they may
go into the surrounding towns and country, and lodge and get provisions; for we
are in a deserted place here.”
But He said to
them, “You give them something to eat.”
And they said, “We have no
more than five loaves and two fish, unless we go and buy food for all these
people.” For there were about five thousand men.
Then He said to His
disciples, “Make them sit down in groups of fifty.” And they did so,
and made them all sit down.
Then He took the five loaves
and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, He blessed and broke them, and
gave them to the disciples to set before the multitude. So they
all ate and were filled, and twelve baskets of the leftover fragments were
taken up by them.
Heavenly Secrets 2343. “And they ate” means they accepted it and made it
part of their life. “Eating,” means accepting
and ingesting, and so to make something a part of one’s life. “This is My Body;” and “this is My Blood” means the Lord's Divine Human and the Lord’s
Holy Spirit, from which and by means of which come all life and salvation. That
is why communion is so sacred. Whether you say “His Divine Human,” or “His
Body”, or “His Flesh,” or “the Bread,” or “the Divine Love,” it is the
same; for the Lord's Divine Human is pure Love.
It is being from Divine Love that makes something sacred.
