The Broken Cup

Focus Statement

When things break, God can and will bring purpose and beauty out of the brokenness.

Point of Relation

Most of you probably know by now that I am a huge fan of horror films...

And that may seem perplexing to some who don’t get horror films…

Especially being that I am a pastor.

Here’s a little secret, some of the craziest horror stories exist in the Bible...

Particularly folk horror.

Don’t believe me...

Then let’s examine Judges 19, where a Levite…a priest, in other words, as the Levites were the priestly tribe of Israel...

Where a Levite was forced to give his concubine over to the town to have their way with her...

And when he found her used and abused and half dead on his front stoop in the morning...

He cut her up into 12 pieces and scattered her parts all across Israel…

a body part for each tribe...

So that all of Israel could see the injustice of her being raped.

Horrifying, right?

Anyway, there’s this film called Midsommar.

Now, before I tell you the basic plot, Midsommar, which is Swedish for Midsummer, is a pagan holy day that is observed on the Summer Solstice throughout Europe.

In Sweden, it also blended with May Day, fertility festivities such as dancing around a may pole...

Because Sweden is too far to the north to have much greenery or flowers by May.

The film Midsommar opens with quite a horrifying scene...

A young woman is seen starting a car.

Tubes can be seen coming out of the muffler and into the ventilation system.

The camera then shows the woman go to her room, sit down and await eventual asphyxiation.

Then the camera fades away from her and into another room,

Where you see the woman’s parents sleeping.

She has committed suicide and took her parent with her.

This is horrifying…and real. Broken people do broken things in this broken world.

Truth be told, that is just the beginning of the brokenness...

As the film follows an American woman named Dani, who happens to be the aforementioned suicidal young woman’s sister, as she grieves the loss of her family...

And tries to cope with the manner in which they died.

Can you imagine the horror of that.

What’s more, she’s in a dysfunctional relationship with a self-absorbed guy...

Who sees her as emotional baggage he doesn’t need in his life right now.

This guy and his friends have planned a trip to Sweden to spend time in some commune...

And his friends coax him into inviting Dani along with them.

When they arrive at the community,

They are welcomed in warmly and treated as one of the group...

Which, to these college students, feels like the complete opposite of broken.

Yet, there is more than meets the eye with this community...

And as the story progresses, we get to see the character Dani comes to terms with her own brokenness...

And then, without, giving anything else away...

Goes to extreme lengths to fit in the community and shed herself of her former life.

Still, by the end of the film, you still have this bad taste in your mouth...

As Dani’s new world and identity seems just as broken in different ways.

Things to Consider

Brokenness is a part of the human condition...

where we know we can and should be and do better…but things just get in our way.

In our congregation,

Brokenness can be found aplenty.

We have people who struggle with power...

People who struggle with status...

People living in fear...

Whether it be fear of change or fear of decline…name your fear here.

We have people who struggle with anxiety, depression, addiction, health-related issues…and everything in between.

It is important to acknowledge that we all go through times of brokenness,

whether or not we are in one right now.

Each one of us has struggled with at least one of the things listed…or if not...

Some other form of brokenness.

What Scripture Says

Have you ever heard of Kintsugi?

Kintsugi (金継ぎ, "golden joinery"), also known as kintsukuroi (金繕い, "golden repair")

is the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery by mending the areas of breakage

with lacquer dusted or mixed with powdered gold, silver, or platinum;

As a philosophy, Kintsugi treats breakage and repair as part of the history of an object,

rather than something to disguise.

The idea and metaphor of kintsugi can actually be connected to the idea of “treasure in clay jars” in this passage.

The “treasure” here is Jesus,

crucified and risen,

and the ministry of proclaiming that good news.

As human beings, we, like clay jars, are fragile

and yet God chooses us as vessels to carry the good news of the gospel (verse 7).

The fragility and brokenness of our humanity are mirrored in Jesus’ suffering on the cross.

In the story of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection,

we see that God works through what is broken.

In our suffering, Jesus is with us.

But Jesus was also raised from the dead, overcoming suffering.

Just as Jesus is with us in our suffering, so do we get to participate in the new life of Jesus (verse 10).

Verse 8-9 describe what this looks like

– even though we are broken (“afflicted,” “perplexed,” “persecuted” and “struck down”),

God put us back together and does not let our brokenness define us

(“not crushed,” “not driven to despair,” “not forsaken,” “not destroyed”).

For the life of Jesus to be made visible in our bodies

does not mean that we/our jars become fixed and smooth, like they were never broken.

Holding the life and death of Jesus in our bodies at the same time means we have gold seams like in Kintsugi.

The “extraordinary power” (verse 7) of putting us back together, creating life from and within death, belongs to God.

The clay jars of our lives, broken and repaired, are evidence of God’s work in and through us.

We can trust that no matter what happens, God will never abandon us.

This gives us hope that in the face of death and suffering, life is always at work (the light shines out of the darkness, as it says in verse 6.

Remember this passage is not just about being broken but not destroyed.

It is about being made a part of God’s plan for redemption.

We are “kintsugi pieces” in God’s art gallery or to put it plainly,

the way God is working in us (bringing life from death) is a testimony or witness to others.

ONE QUICK NOTE: We don’t have to go looking for suffering or glorify suffering.

Brokenness and suffering is part of life.

It will happen whether we seek it or not.

Jesus works in spite of and through our brokenness.

What this Means for You

Where are places that you need healing?

Where do you need the gold poured in?

At the beginning of this Lenten journey,

identify where you are going to invite God’s healing, God’s gold, into your life.

How can you open yourself up to the healing God is offering this Lenten season?

How will you allow God to fill your cup and pour into you?

I invite you to make space this week to check in with yourself

to acknowledge places of brokenness you might not have acknowledged or been aware you were carrying.

We need to be aware in order to intentionally invite God in.

And please know, if you ever need some to listen and walk through the brokenness with you...

I am always available!

No one need go this alone.

That’s why we are THE CHURCH...

as opposed to a single lonely, isolated person.

What this Means for Us

I want all of us to consider committing to spiritual disciplines this Lenten season.

Of course, there’s prayer, Bible study, worship, mission work, and all sorts of disciplines to choose from.

But many may not know how to pray, read the bible, or even where to begin.

So, I say, start there. Commit to reading Scirpture and praying each day.

There are plenty of devotions you can use go through for free on BibleGateway.com

And there are really powerful ways to pray.

For example,

the Examen, a form of praying developed by St. Ignatius Loyola in the 16th century AD,

is a powerful tool for identifying where God’s healing is needed in our lives

and where God is working on our lives

I have left the link in my sermon handout, which is posted on our website and can be found there under worship.

https://www.umc.org/en/content/praying-the-examen-following-jesus-in-our-daily-lives).

Also, this discipline will help you discern where God’s healing is needed...

in our local community and in our world.

Let us put God first in all that we do...

And let really begin to discipline ourselves to listen to God…and discern what God is calling us to do as Christians serving our beloved Newton, NJ.

Amen? Amen/