TGIF
It has been the week from hell.
One of those weeks were nothing works but the “whine” button.
One of those weeks where you want someone to hang a sign from your neck that says ‘Don’t touch/broken”.
In the midst of this week that was handcrafted by the evil one, I was called on to chauffeur my mom to her final appointment at the local orthopedic center.
She has had a total knee replacement and this was her last visit before the doctor signs off on the new leg.
Sitting in the lobby with my imaginary sign on to ward off evil spirits and real people, I noted something obvious.
Everyone here was obviously broken.
They were only here because they were broken.
They were also well aware of their brokenness.
They were in casts of various sizes and locations, were in wheel chairs, or were walking with canes and walkers.
The ones who were not obviously broken were here to assist those who were.
The expectation was that if you were here, you were broken.
No one expected the broken ones to function as if they weren’t.
No one was critical of the broken ones being broken…the very notion of that would have been absurd.
Everyone was simply trying to help someone else receive healing or be healed themselves.
Everyone was waiting to see the doctor with the expectation that the doctor could fix that which was broken.
It was quite simply, the fellowship of the broken.
You know where I’m going with this…that too should be obvious by now.
Wouldn’t it be great if our churches functioned with the same understanding and expectations;
that we all are broken,
that we know we’re broken,
that some of our brokenness is hidden,
that our expectations of each other should be based on the fact that we are broken,
that we are here to help the broken and receive healing for our own brokenness,
that being broken means that some things don’t function properly,
that we are truly a fellowship of the broken.
We ‘re all just here to see the Great Physician.
That’s the easy application…
To take it a step farther…what if we viewed everyone in social media this way…as part of the fellowship of the broken?
Everyone at work?
Everyone at the grocery store?
Everyone in our home?
That..would be a bit tougher…but maybe more people would end up with us at the Doctors office.
Maybe.
Make your own application…
Great reminder today, Michael…thanks!
And first?
Amen and amen….. Where is the love, the grace, the compassion? Our Saviour said “all men will know you are My disciples by your love, one for another”.
sobering truth
it just occurred to me that God could hang a sign on most churches “Guard Dogs on Duty”
we do bite way more than we heal … sigh
Broken people can sometimes snap at you, because they are in pain and it’s all they can do to speak out. Some times it’s “Don’t touch me!”
We still need to love and be there for them.
absolutely right, Nonnie …
Good way to start the day and remember the brokenness we share, and our great healer.
sometimes broken people “snap” because they are too proud or arrogant to admit they are broken like the rest of us.
I was totally on board until you mentioned social media 🙂
Sometimes I feel like going on social media is akin to going to the doctors office during a flu outbreak.
Going in there with all of them is just gonna make one more sick person.
Josh,
I hear you… and that’s why I had to include it. 🙂
In real life, I’m a hermit by nature…and I find myself pulling away from social media more and more because of it’s toxicity.
I’m at the point where I have to be very intentional about looking at Facebook as being a collection of the broken…or else just leave it period.
Thank God for amusing cat videos… 🙂
Some of us our broken and some are victims and sometimes its hard to discern the difference.
RE…..being welcomed in to the Drs. Office of the Broken,
the bail hearing was just heard on the radio for the SC racist killer.
The killer almost reconsidered his plan because the prayer meeting folks/church were SO welcoming.
The families got to speak. They all forgave……
About the killer…arrested about 1 mile from my house.
#12… that is so incredibly sad… almost as sad as his horrible act… someone taught that shooter to hate IMO … those good and God fearing people murdered for their color, not their faith… oh, Lord Jesus, come soon
Rogers and Hammerstein wrote a song about teaching children to hate…. “…..You’ve got to be taught before it’s too late,
Before you are six or seven or eight,
To hate all the people your relatives hate,
You’ve got to be carefully taught!”
and then those families expressing forgiveness… i do hope the Lord gets some credit for raising His children right
sorrowful times
Appreciate your #14 em. I stole the R & H quote for my FB page. Sorrowful times, indeed.
“…and I find myself pulling away from social media more and more because of it’s toxicity.”
At one point I found that maybe I was a contributor to that “toxicity,” so I decoded to repent and make a change. Yep it’s easy to slip back into the mix again, but Messiah Jesus is a peace maker, one who brings order and restoration to the broken. It was He who said, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they are sons of God.”
I would not have FB at all except it’s the only way I can keep track of my large family. I have a lot of “friends” but I only follow family members, church friends and monasteries, where seldom is heard a discouraging word.
If a family or church member gets overwrought during election time, they are unfollowed until they calm down.
I don’t have Facebook or Twitter or a website for various reasons, but one that always gets me is the hysteria people engage in every political season…almost makes me want to go postal on some people for their….see…there is the toxicity in, not only social media, but in my heart.
meant to note the good news that Michael’s mother is coming along okay… pray all continues well
i think the most draining thing i did in my life was taking care of my aging mother – she was just self-sufficient enough to always need “just a little help” …with everything
separate, but slightly related… i used to think that just going to sleep and never waking up would be an ideal way to go out, but a news item about an 81 year old out for a walk getting struck by lightening ? hmm sounds like a great way to end
God keep all close and comforted now – thru these troubles
All the king’s horses and all the king’s men couldn’t…but God 🙂
It seems to me that I was in the middle of discussion here the past 2 days with a few folks who were making the case that not only can you not admit being broken or actually be broken or continue in your brokenness , but in the opposite direction where you are to be actively participating with God learning how you yourself should be learning how to get healed promptly and the take courses from God himself to learn how to become the physician.
As I said yesterday, the whole story is Jesus forgives your sin. To put it in brokenness language your job is to show up for the booster shot of word and sacrament.
“but in the opposite direction where you are to be actively participating with God learning how you yourself should be learning how to get healed promptly and the take courses from God himself to learn how to become the physician.”
No one’s writing that at all, you’re just having difficulty in interpretation.
Let’s see…
Adam and Eve were to tend God’s garden.
Then Adam was to till the ground.
Noah was to build the boat to save, for God, life on old planet earth.
Tamar did the right thing and tricked Judah into having sex during her fertile time and became the great great (maybe more greats) grandmother of King David, whose throne the Messiah would sit in.
Zechariah and Elizabeth were to have the man who would be God’s fore runner.
Mary had the man God Jesus, circumcised Him on the eighth day and nursed Him until a he could eat solid food.
Joseph made sure He was fed and taught Him as a good father should, taking Him to Jerusalem for the Feasts.
Jesus picked 12 to spread the Gospel.
A man shared his tomb with Jesus.
No I don’t think anyone “partnered” with God at all, old or new.
I liked what you wrote Michael, I do hope things go better and you feel better and get some real encouragement. For what its worth you are a good man and a fine pastor, you have helped me a great deal.
Bob, it has nothing to do with doing – but doing is a good thing.
I am saying we do because we do – but we are still broken and damaged and that never goes away.
Let’s use Noah as the example since you brought him up. Count all the things he did wrong and he was still considered righteous to God. Did Noah get into trouble with God or lose any of his righteousness as he seems to have been prone to be a drunk and a streaker?
I say no – and I think the only thing God required of him was not behavior modification, but someone who would return time after time when the behavior modification failed and see the forgiveness that God had already provided.
MLD:
Not what I was writing about at all.
Well then don’t quote me (#22) in your comments and then make like it was unrelated to my conversation.
Let’s see if I can simplify this. Jesus came to save us for one sole purpose – to save us. End of story.
MLD
You made the on going implication that people were trying to either become gods or partner with God to work out their own salvation. I quoted that.
I refer you to the text and how over and over, ok and over, again God partners with His creation for their salvation and good. But you seem to be law oriented and see things in another way.
Humans aren’t God’s puppets and while He knows the outcome and the process to get there isn’t it amazing He gives us the freedom to be His partner in it.
Jesus chose the twelve, they voluntarily chose to follow Him and yet He knew from the start who would betray Him. It’s amazing!
Bless His name above all names!
MLD
Are you sure that is the single purpose of Jesus?
what does it mean, “to save us?” … kind of like opening the door to the dog pound… isn’t it strange how many of us refuse to leave the kennel and go back outside into fellowship with our Creator… yes, i know a lame analogy – misleading, maybe – dunno
He did come to save us but the word “save” is vast in its meaning.
“To save” means far more than going to heaven instead of going to hell.
Well, when you tell someone they are lost – what does that mean? You are acting badly and now Jesus has come so you can act more along the lines of Emily Post?
I am not sure that salvation is not only being saved from the hell we are promised. We are doomed to hell, to be separated from God for all eternity and God in his mercy through the life, death and resurrection of his son Jesus Christ has saved us from that. He has offered us the kingdom of heaven – the now privilege of spending eternity with him vs the separation of the fiery flames..
The big part it is with absolutely no strings attached.
Bob,
In the view of you synergists, I agree that you are in partnership with God working out your salvation. All I say is I think that is an erroneous way to look at salvation.
The Jews, the EO and the RCC very much are in your camp – you probably out number the rest of us.
#34 was in reference to Bob’s comment at #28
” over, again God partners with His creation for their salvation “
“Are you sure that is the single purpose of Jesus?”
I didn’t say that was his only purpose – I said that his sole purpose “in salvation” was to save us.
MLD:
“I agree that you are in partnership with God working out your salvation. ”
You see and hear, but you don’t.
No one wrote or implied what you just that.
Bob said – “No one wrote or implied what you just that.”
You said in #28 these very words – ” over, again God partners with His creation for their salvation “
If that isn’t a claim that you and God are partners in salvation, thenI guess I don’t understand plain English.
MLD
I guess also mix up written words and their understanding.
You wrote this:
“you are in partnership with God…”
and again this:
“you and God are in partners…”
I wrote this, “God partners…”
What’s the difference?
Surely a 5th grader could see it.
MLD:
Let me put it another way for you by quoting Jesus.
“And He was giving orders to them, saying, “Watch out! Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.” They began to discuss with one another the fact that they had no bread.”
MLD:
You even mix up your own words.
You wrote this:
“I said that his sole purpose “in salvation” was to save us.”
and yet this is what you wrote:
“Jesus came to save us for one sole purpose – to save us. End of story.”
Now the question asked by em was this:
“what does it mean, “to save us?”
and then wrote this:
” isn’t it strange how many of us refuse to leave the kennel and go back outside into fellowship with our Creator”
Maybe em is answering the question? Hmmmm
But yet you return to the theme:
“You are acting badly and now Jesus has come so you can act more along the lines of Emily Post?”
Some how you have come up with a doctrine about Jesus came so we can wear “Aloha shirts,” and be cool (Emily Post is from another generation). The worst part is you keep trying to imprint that on others who aren’t Lutherans. Shame on you!
” isn’t it strange how many of us refuse to leave the kennel and go back outside into fellowship with our Creator”
Can someone name one person they know who does not go out and interact with God. If you have a wife or kids you interact with and in God’s creation through vocation.
Bob – so you see an difference between “you and me are partners” and “you partner with me”? I really do need to hear this one.
And I don’t think I have brought Luther, Lutheranism or my own local congregation into this at all … just the bible and reformation thinking.
I guess I think more in line of we get to act not we must act.
MLD, it was a lame analogy as your comment proves… the kennel door (even i don’t like my analogy) is open to escape the impound, to reconnect with God, to get out of the kennel and into the real world – the kennel is where the lost are impounded – critters staying, impounded by Satan, refusing to venture out into the freedom that Christ has so dearly paid for…
she says, limping lamely off the thread forever, never to be seen or heard from again – thud
Em, come back!
em, I didn’t take issue with the analogy – I just always ask when people get cast together.I just was wondering who any of these people who do not engage God and society. Other than maybe monks (and most of them do worthy work) – I have never met an unengaged Christian
MLD
Again you prove the lunacy of engaging with you in any sort of manner.