Just Imagine: Beginning with the end

from my Just Imagine series, from Rev. 22:1-2

Broken.  Do you know anything about brokeness?  Broken promises, broken trust, broken hearts, broken heads, broken relationships, broken bodies, broken spirits.

"You said that you would be at my soccer game, but you never came."  "We stood at the altar before God and those people.  We both said, 'I do.'  Now you are telling me that you don't, you don't love me any more."  "You will never amount to anything!"

I found a Peanuts cartoon.  Charlie Brown is talking with Lucy.  "Look at my hands.  These hands may someday do great things.  They could build bridges.  They could fly an airplane.  They could perform surgery and save a life."  Lucy says, "Your hands have jelly on them."

Broken.  Do you know about brokeness?

The church is broken.  She is a first time guest in worship who brings her little girl with her.  She sits down in the pew, and the person behind her goes, "SSShhh.  Make your child be quiet."  Do you think she will return?

"The pastor looked right past me as if I didn't even exist."  "I shared with the prayer group a confidential request, and now it is being gossiped all around the church."

Broken.  Do you know about brokeness?

The nation is broken. Our globe is broken.  Broken treaties, broken pacts, broken agreements.  It sometimes sounds like children on the playground.  "We can't trust the other party."  "He hit me first."  "She took my toy."

Broken.  Do you know about brokeness?  I am here to share some amazing good news.  You were not meant for brokeness.  God's intent for us is wholeness.  Our scripture comes from the very last chapter of the very last book of our Bible.  You can't get any closer to the end than this.  God's final vision for us, for humanity, for creation is of a garden.  Not a return to the garden of Eden, but a new garden, with a river of life, with a tree of life that bears fruit all through the year and the leaves are for the healing of the nations.

We are broken, but God's final vision for us is one of healing.  My spiritual director told me this past week, "Are you broken down....or broken open?"  God's intent is not to harm us, hurt us, break us.  God does not cause our brokeness.  But God can work through any brokenness to bring about healing, about transformation.

I will tell you the story of my chalice.  I got it from a potter in San Antonio named Rob Grimes.  I used it one evening, I think it was Holy Thursday night, before Easter.  I had broken the bread and poured the grape juice and served the people.  I was taught that the left over elements were to be returned to the ground from which they came.  Cliff was helping with that process.  This was at my former church, down on the Texas Gulf coast.  He poured the juice back onto the ground and set my chalice down.  He broke the bread into small pieces for the birds to pick up.  Do you know that the wind can gust down on the coast?  My chalice blew over on the sidewalk and broke.  Cliff came back in.  "Lynn, Lynn, I am so sorry.  I broke your chalice.  I will do whatever you say.  I will buy you a new one.  I will go to San Antonio to the potter and get you another one."  I said, "No, I want that one.  I want you to put it back together."  And he did, as you can see.  But it still broken.  There is a crack here and a chip out here.  When I pour grape juice in it today, it bleeds.

This is the kind of God I can believe in...One who has been broken like we are.  One who has joined us in our brokenness.  One who can transform our brokenness into healing.

The writer of Revelation is a prisoner on an island off the coast of Turkey.  In the awful situation, God gives John a vision of the last things, the lasting things, the ultimate things.  God's end vision is one of healing.  John is not broken down, but broken open.

Our church has been broken open.  We have gone through the Healthy Church Initiative.  We have been a good church for 40 years, but we could be better.  A team came here last October and pointed out some things that need to change.  Frankly, it hurt me a bit.  But I realize that we need to address some issues.

In the Healthy Church Initiative, we were given 5 prescriptions for greater health.  We have started on them.  We have had a day of prayer.  We have  had a day of visioning with 80 people participating.  I am supposed to come up with a vision by March 15.  I am working with 3 other people, Jim, David, and Liz, on this statement.  I don't have it for you today.

But I was asked by this team of 3 to make a first attempt at it.  Here's my vision for Westlake UMC.  In 25 years, I want people to say, "Don't go to that church unless you want to be changed.  If you want to be entertained, go somewhere else."  Don't get me wrong.  We like to have fun around here, like at the Super Bowl party where the game was just an excuse to eat and talk together.  I loved seeing some 5th graders playing Twister.  We have That's Amore', Mon, coming up this Saturday.  We laugh and have fun around here.  But we have a deeper joy too, not just entertainment.

I said, "Don't go to that church unless you want to be changed.  If want to be comfortable, go somewhere else.  It will be a safe place for you to share your brokenness.  But you will be invited into a relationship with Jesus Christ.  You will be given an opportunity to learn leadership skills.  You will grow in prayer.  You will learn about stewardship, so that you can move beyond our grasping greedy culture to a place of gratitude."

Finally I said, "Don't go to that church unless you want to change the world.  You will learn about your spiritual gifts, how you can make an impact on others, how you can fulfill God's purposes."  We already do a pretty good job here.  But we need to learn how to add words to our deeds so our witness will be complete.

That's what I imagine.  What do you imagine for us for the future?

We are broken, but God can use broken things, even us, for the transformation of the world.

One of my favorite books is Strong in the Broken Places by Leonard Sweet.  He tells a story of a grandmother on the porch, sitting in her rocking chair, mending clothes, sewing on patches.  Her granddaughter is at her feet.  "Grandma, what does God do all day?"  She replies after a pause, "God spends all his time fixing broken things."

That's the good news I have to share.