Approaching Great Lent, the Church gives us the wisdom of the Story of the Prodigal Son. We are challenged to escape the spiritual slavery of either ignoring the brokenness of my life or being so obsessed with my mistakes that I am gripped by guilt and shame. We will escape these twin slaveries by being honest about our lives in a way that makes us run to the mercy of God to be mended by the gold of God’s grace.
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1 Comment
Susan
I love how Fr. Barnabas uses the Japanese art of restoring broken pottery to beautifully illustrates how God longs to restore our brokenness in our lives with the gold of His mercy. This Japanese art is called Kintsugi. It is a treat to be able to watch a Kintsugi restorer at work. It can take up to 3 months to restore a broken plate or bowl, not to mention the amount of detail work it requires to turn the imperfection to beauty in an extraordinary way. People who looked for this type of restoration because they want to mend something of sentimental value to them. It reminds me how precious we are in God’s eye that He chose to restore us instead of toss us because of our brokenness. Matthew 12:20 says, “A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out.” The strong lacquer that uses to bind the broken pieces together is taken from the sap of a special type of tree in Japan. It is very precious to the Japanese people because once the sap is taken from the tree, it will die. The sap is like the blood of the tree. So again it reminded me of Christ Who willingly sacrificed for my sake that I may be healed. Therefore, what now binds the broken pieces together is much stronger and more resilience than before. It reveals the grace of God, His strength, our fragility and finally the beauty He can restore us to. In a way, looking at this new piece of artwork is more intriguing, because the gold really outlined the brokenness that it once was, yet now it adorned with such beauty it’s breathtaking.