I was driving to Albany to do a hospital visit when I saw this sign, which caused me to pause and think about the message:
It reads, “Sign Broken… We are not”
I started to think about how “cute” it was for a church to put that up instead of their broken sign, but then I thought about how the sign’s message may not be ccurate. Henri Nouwen was know for consistently stating that we are “broken” people.
If this church in the picture wants to draw people in, is this the right message about our brokenness? Does it give an air of perfectionism? Theologically, when we are made new in Christ, we are a new creation. It is Christ who makes us whole and perfect in God’s eyes. Our brokenness is taken away, or is it? We are constantly dealing with our broken lives and our baggage. Sometimes it never goes away. Our brokenness comes from pain, grief, abuse, family, marriage, friends, church, etc… Can we really get rid of that stuff? Sometimes we just feel bewildered, bummed, and burned out because of how much we deal with our issues.
In the Old Testament lectionary text for Sunday, Elijah has just finished “taking care” of all the 
prophets and priests of Baal in 1 Kings 19. He displayed the power of God over all the “gods.” However, Elijah has a problem. Jezebel wishes the same fate on Elijah as the priests of Baal and he becomes worried, evening broken. He is bewilder, bummed, and burned out with God’s work and he even wants to give up and die.
God has other plans. Not only does God seek to put Elijah on the right path, but God provides Elijah by giving him food. Still, Elijah seeks the comfort of a cave and three times God asks, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” It is clear that God has other ideas for Elijah, but Elijah’s brokenness is causing him to doubt himself, his life, and his ministry. The great prophet even says,
“I have been very zealous for the LORD, the God of hosts; for the Israelites have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they are seeking my life, to take it away.”
It is almost is if Elijah is saying, “God, I’ve done a lot for you, and I feel abandoned. Where are you? Do you have my back?” Finally, God says, “Go return on your way…”
I think we feel like Elijah sometimes. We do so much! Work, play, church, socialize, take our kids to soccer practice, volunteer, school, and the list goes on. We feel bewildered, bummed, and burned out because of all of our “activity.” Even Elijah’s activity involved the Lord’s work, but he was broken because of it.
We need return to the basics. We are pulled in so many directions and most of them are good directions. However, we become broken from all the responsibility or from our emotional baggage. We need to be recharged. Elijah wanted to get away from it all, but God called him back. God calls is back into focus. Often we are so busy that we cannot listen to God’s “voice.”
We cannot ignore our brokenness. We must embrace it. Own it and deal with it. We cannot do it alone. We need God and we need those whom we love to call us away from isolation. God provides. God helps us deal with our insecurities, but only if we are willing to step away from busyness and listen.
God is like a divine Mr. Fixed, he takes our brokenness and glues us back together. The cracks are there, but the cracks are fixed. The cracks remind us our brokenness but God makes sure that we are whole again. So, does the brokenness ever truely leave us?
Pentecost 4C
5 Comments
Thus proving how a baptist can’t understand reformed theology. We aren’t broken BECAUSE we are a new creation. We aren’t broken BECAUSE God tells us we aren’t. Anabaptists worldwide are rolling over in their grave because you’ve agreed with a Catholic instead of the reformers.
Mark, I never said we are broken because we are a new creation. You misunderstood. I identified the dialectic of being made whole in Christ but being being broken in our day to day lives. Theologically, we are whole. Where did I agree with Nouwen? I used his thinking to bring to light an idea.
There is our brokenness of sin (theological) and the then dealing with the repercussions of our brokenness (baggage). The nuance here, that you are not picking up on, is using the word “brokenness” in two separate but related ways.
BTW, there is a movement within conservative baptist thought that embraces reformed theology. Especially, with John Piper.
What’s with the hostility? 🙂
No hostility; but also no brokeness. That’s my point entirely. You’re calling us to view ourselves differently than we are viewed by Christ. We aren’t humpty dumpties, we are new creations, raised to new life in Christ. The old is gone. How can that be broken? God isn’t our bandaid or glue bottle. Your picture is of a Presbyterian church, and my point was as a Baptist you couldn’t possibly understand that sign. But the anabaptists historically speaking are cringing because at least you should yield to Calvin instead of agreeing with Nouwen on humanity’s brokeness.
I am not criticizing Calvinism or Presbyterians, so I don’t know why you feel that you have to defend those things. I use the sign to ask a question… I don’t care of Baptists had the same sign up. I am merely asking a question throughout the post.
Anyways, how can we deny that the brokenness that we feel? Yes, we are made new. Regenerated. Saved. Whatever. We often know something logically, but emotionally we feel different. But, how can we deny the feelings of isolation, depression, or lostness.. brokeness? I know that Christ has made me a new creation, but why do people feel broken? And that is my point. It’s the feeling. Let us be able to separate the trees from the forest here. Christ takes away the “brokeness” but we are still left over with the feelings of brokeness. Pastorally, people have a tough time with knowing that they are forgiving (new in Christ), but are unable to embrace it. I have spent many a hour trying to explain to that people that they are a new creation, but they feel like they are still broken even though they are made new in Christ.
BTW, looking back at Baptist history, modern day American Baptists descended from English Separatists. From there, two groups emerged: Particular Baptists (Reformed) and General Baptists (Arminian). And still exist to this day. So, truthfully, you can be a Baptist and reformed. As for the anabaptist movement, yes baptists have a shared connection, but modern day Baptist have more to share with English Separatists rather than Dutch and Swiss Anabaptists (modern day Mennonites).