Beautiful Brokenness: Finding Grace in Our Imperfections

Brokenness. It’s tough to deal with brokenness. We don’t like to admit brokenness, or at least I don’t. I guess I have this on my mind because I just had a hip replaced. So, sharing that medical fact, is that a definite HIPPA violation? Get it? Hip-pa? Anyway,  my hip was gone due to many miles of running over the years. It was “broken”, a source of pain and discomfort, and my limping made me stand out in ways I did not like. Hopefully, the new hip will work great, and in the not-too-distant future, I will be back on the bike or running or whatever. There are other kinds of brokenness that cannot be fixed surgically or with a quick easy fix in some other way.

While I was laid up, I had to do a boundary workshop for the Synod. Rostered leaders are required to do so because, quite frankly, there is brokenness in our society. There is sin. There are ways that we do things that break relationships. There are ways people act that violate the relationship, hurt a relationship, and destroy trust.  

Sin. Brokenness. Those are not things that social media deals with except to blame others and point out the sin and brokenness of others, not ourselves. Yes, this is a blog. Yes, this is on social media, but those who know me know how much I speak about the problems social media causes. There is a failure to be honest about brokenness and sin.

Which is why worship is important. We start every worship service with confession. We admit that we are broken and that we sin. In our incredibly divided society, how might it be helpful if everyone started with the premise that we are broken and sinful people, who need God’s grace and mercy to move forward in our lives? We are broken and healed at the same time. We are broken and repaired at the same time. Is that too hard to embrace? What do you think? 

-Pastor John Trump