Brokenness (Let's Work)

Sometimes, the brokenness is real. It’s not a “reality” TV show. It’s not an article you read on the Internet. It’s not a tweet from someone you “follow.” It’s not something happening “over there.” It’s not concern over your “favorite” that got “voted off.” It’s not your DVR being accidentally erased. It’s not “that bad thing” happening to someone else. Sometimes, the brokenness is real.

Sometimes, the brokenness is real. It’s the mother next door that abandoned her children. It’s the family two streets over that’s stressing about how to feed their kids during summer vacation. It’s the couple down the street that’s slept in separate bedrooms for the last two years. It’s the kid around the corner who knows more about a daily regime of medication than the steps for solving a proof in geometry. It’s the family losing the battle with that deadly illness…again. Sometimes, the brokenness is real.

Sometimes, the brokenness is real. It’s like being locked in a cage with a key fitting only the lock on the outside of the door. It’s like finding a dead battery underneath a pile of flashlights in the corner of a dark room. It’s like wishing you could stay asleep, because life is so much easier when your eyes are shut. Sometimes, the brokenness is real.

Can the words of any language express the Amazing Mystery? The brokenness is real, but the brokenness does not have the last word. Nope, in fact, the Word, the One who became flesh and dwelled…tabernacled among us, this Word has the last word.

The Word is speaking…again…creation…a (re)newed creation into existence…again. The New York Times, CNN.com, and your local news station report a reality disconnected from the real. What’s real? The words of the Word: “I am making all things new.”

“In the beginning was the Word.” It’s déjà vu all over again. The Gardener, the Vine, and the Grower are ready to work. Where are the branches?