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Are you smarter than a Two-Year-Old?
Pentecost brings unexpected blessings … to say the least! On Sunday I went to church with my family and one of the threads in the sermon was about how the Spirit is especially close to us during those times when we feel broken. With the Spirit close by, breathing within us, we can find new life! Such a powerful message considering that these words were spoken before a church community who had lost its home in the 2008 floods in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and had for 2 years worshipped in several different places until a new home was found in late 2010.
Here’s what really blew me away. In the midst of the sermon, Simon my two-year-old nephew, who had been playing intensely with his new John Deere truck and must have heard the word “broken” a dozen times, looked up and said, “Broken.” It was terribly cute. But then he looked over to his father (my brother) and said, “Da-da fix?”
Simon (who was named after Simon Peter) had it totally right. He heard Scripture proclaimed, he heard the message, and he got it. He knew that his dad could fix whatever brokenness was being talked about because he’d experienced his dad’s handiwork before. My brother is an engineer and is a master at bringing broken or misfit toys, gadgets, and other random items to new life.
As Simon so aptly pointed out, you and I each have the responsibility of being part of the new life that is to emerge from our brokenness — our personal brokenness and our common brokenness. “Fixing” doesn’t mean slapping on some glue or painting over the problem; rather, it means being open to new life. If this church community had tried to glue and paint over their church building that had sat for days in a flood, it would have been in vain for all the destruction that had taken place. They grieved but did not remain in that space or place for long as they opened themselves to the Spirit who had drawn close indeed.
As Pentecost washes over us, consider what it means to be broken in your own life and also in our world. What does it mean for you to allow the Spirit to draw near and to be open to new life?
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{ 8 comments }
too bad there isn’t a service where we can enter our brokenness issues and get directions back on how to repair the brokenness.
i know well that i am broken. i think my problem would be in remembering to make room for the spirit in such circumstances. how much room does breath need, after all?
As my nun Sister Maxine would say … it’s about creating room within ourselves.
Thanks, Julie, and “a child will lead them”. What trust in a loving father to ‘fix all’. I believe.
you and I each have the responsibility of being part of the new life that is to emerge from our brokenness — our personal brokenness and our common brokenness. I like this very much, thank you. In fact, I like your whole post — and I am not sure that I am as smart as your two-years old nephew…
Good to hear from you, Claire! Yes, Simon is going to be one to keep an eye on!
Your nephew is an amazing little guy, for sure. I love this post. I finally feel like I “got” pentecost this time around!
Funny thing is we were talking about this very idea of “finally getting it” at lunch this afternoon…how you can hear the same story again and again at different times in your life, and each time, you get something different from it. Thank you for putting that into words, JE!