Repairers of the Breach – Fixing What’s Broken
“In a broken and fearful world
the Spirit gives us courage
to pray without ceasing,
to witness among all peoples to Christ as Lord and Savior,
to unmask idolatries in Church and culture,
to hear the voices of peoples long silenced,
and to work with others for justice, freedom, and peace.”
~from “A Brief Statement of Faith” of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)
How?
How do we heal the brokenness and fear in the world when it seems so pervasive?
How can we share hope in a world that is so conflicted?
Our political brokenness. Our cultural brokenness. The brokenness of our climate. Even brokenness between and among religious communities.
That is not to mention the brokenness we feel in our own lives, and the lives of those we know and love. Physical and emotional and yes, even spiritual brokenness.
All of that brokenness coupled with fear — fear of the other, of the unknown, of the future.
How?
Brokenness is the human condition. But it is not acceptable to God, so it should not become acceptable to us.
In Isaiah 58, God, through the voice of the prophet, calls us to be repairers of the breach. For Isaiah, the primary breach was between God and God’s people. That breach takes on human form in oppression, injustice, hunger, homelessness, affliction.
Isaiah 58, which culminates in our One Great Hour of Sharing theme, is a veritable litany of how we are called to repair brokenness. Read the entire chapter. Note what we are called to do: shout, announce, loose, undo, break, cover, house, and share. We are called to repair brokenness by putting our faith in action — pray, welcome, unmask, hear, work. Give.
The opposite of faith, it has been said, is not doubt, but fear. Doing the work, sowing the seeds through our giving that will transform prayer into action — goes a long way to transform fear into hope.
That work can look like many things — offering shelter in the face of natural disaster, providing economic support in the face of poverty, and providing food in the face of hunger.
If we answer the call to be repairers of the breach, we will, by God’s grace, be led into a new season of justice, freedom and peace. For when we all do a little, it adds up to a lot.
Let us pray~
Help us to delight in you, O God, that we might become agents of healing and hope, repair and restoration. Transform our brokenness and fear into justice and mercy, and bless our work to share your love. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.
