This time around on the One Word at a Time Blog Carnival the word is brokenness. This word has many meanings for many different people and for the most part it is negative. I would like to focus on this as a positive as it is my belief that we have to be broken open to minister to others. It is through our very brokenness as humans that we are able to serve others. Through our own brokenness that we are prepared to serve and to minister in His name who was broken for us.
In the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom, served each week in Orthodox Churches, after the consecration of the bread and wine, comes a part known as the fracture. This is the time in the service where the lamb, the part of the bread that is actually consecrated, is broken into four parts. With this breaking comes these words by the priest, “The Lamb of God is broken and shared, broken but not divided, ever eaten but not consumed, sanctifying those who partake.”
“The Lamb of God is Broken and shared, broken but not divided…” Such powerful words that remind us of the crucifixion and all that Christ endured for our salvation. Christ was literally broken for us and through His brokenness He was able to redeem the world. This could not have been done if He had not been broken and by His example neither can we.
I am not suggesting that we need to be crucified to be able to minister, but we need to be broken so the part that is all about us is broken away and gone forever. We need to strip ourselves of our pride so we can get down and get dirty in ministry. We need to strip away all of our falseness in order to get to our real selves so we are able to become the ministers that He needs us to be.
Brokenness is not a bad thing. There is a song that I used to sing back in my Evangelical days. Broken and spilled out, just for live of you Jesus were the words of the song. That what we need to be. Just as the woman broke open the jar and spilled the contents out at the feet of Jesus, we need to do the same thing. We need to be broken and spilled out, broken so Jesus can fix us.
I've been reminded of this in other posts, although yorus is the first to make this strong a connectin betwen "brokenness" and the body of Christ. His body was "broken' to atone for our "brokenness." Good post.
Like Glynn, my recognition of commUnion with the Lord through His brokenness is renewed and enlarged here today. Thank you.
I suspect the important words here might be easily passed over if not felt deeply in the heart.
I felt them.
I love the thought of God 'fixing' me… thanks for this post!