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A Brief Reflection
The past six weeks have been a hard and painful time in the life of our church. We have struggled under the weight of hurt, disappointment, and even anger. At times I witnessed behaviors that were outside of our character as the body of Christ, and was pained by them. Amidst the tension and emotions, I repeatedly wondered why and how, and what do we need to do to live into our true self as the church.
Recently, I came across a quote by Thomas Merton, the Trappist Monk and writer, that struck me deeply and led me to one of his book New Seeds of Contemplation, which I am now reading. In the chapter title “A Body of Broken Bones,” he writes:
As long as we are on earth, the love that unites us will bring us suffering by our very contact with one another, because this love is the resetting of a Body of broken bones. Even saints cannot live with saints on this earth without some anguish, without some pain at the differences that come between them. There are two things which [humans] can do about the pain of disunion with other [humans]. They can love or the can hate. Hatred recoils from sacrifice and the sorrow that are the price of this resetting of bones. It refuses the pain of reunion.
These words of Merton called me to remember who the church truly is. We are a people who are broken, who are being reunited by God through Jesus Christ. We are not perfect.
As such, in our brokenness we will experience suffering, we will experience pain, we will experience disappointment. We will experience all these because we are a broken people in relationship with each other, and are being reconnected together with each other.
We know how painful a broken finger, hand, or leg can be. We also know there is pain even in the healing process. We know that for the healing process to be complete we have to stay the course, we cannot take off the cast or the splint, no matter how uncomfortable it may be. Yes, removing the cast or splint would give us some relief, but only for a moment, because the disjointed bone is not yet reconnect, so after a while the pain will return and be even more hurtful than before. We have to make the sacrifice of bearing with the uncomfortableness of the cast or splint as the bone is being reset, so that the full healing will happen.
We are being reset as a church. And it is not just us, but all churches, all believers and disciples of Jesus Christ. Wherever we are gathered as the church, resetting is being done. It is a continuous process. It is painful, and at times we are incline to walk away because of the pain involved. But it is a necessary process for all of us, as the church, to come into the fullness of who we are created to be in God. As Merton writes, “Christianity is not merely a doctrine or a system of beliefs, it is Christ Living in us and uniting [humans] to one another in His own Life and unity.” We are created to be united to the Triune God and with each other.
Saint Mark, we have a choice about how we will live into our true self as the church - a Body of broken bones, going forward. There is sacrifice involved, because we are being reset and united by and to God, and the process is painful. My prayer for you and I is that we will choose love, and we will choose love each day, so we will continue being reconnected in Christ..
God’s healing mercies and grace,
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