Kintsugi


Image credit

That’s a Japanese word for “golden joinery.” [1] According to Wikipedia, “[It] is the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery with lacquer dusted or mixed with powdered gold, silver, or platinum”. [2]

According to legends, a Shogun or a Japanese military dictator in the 15th century had a precious tea bowl repaired. But the repair got botched. “When it was returned, repaired with ugly metal staples, it may have prompted Japanese craftsmen to look for a more aesthetic means of repair.” [3] Thus, we now have beautifully repaired potteries with gold or silver cracks. 

Kintsugi reflects a philosophy that, instead of disguising a breakage, it highlights the brokenness of the vessel. In repairing the broken pottery as such, Kintsugi shows that there is beauty in brokenness.

Spiritually speaking, brokenness is beautiful in God’s eyes.
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. (Psalm 51:17) [4]
When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears and delivers them out of all their troubles. The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit. (Psalm 34:17-18)
What does it mean to be broken? In his “Broken or Triumphant?” article for “The Gospel Coalition,” Dr. Dane Ortlund wrote 
Are Christians to be broken? If by broken we mean downcast, long-faced, perpetually discouraged, hand-wringing, abject, ever grieving over sins—no. If by broken we mean contrite, low before the Lord, poignantly aware of personal weakness, self-divesting, able to laugh at ourselves, of sober judgment, sensitive to the depths of sin within us—yes. [5]
To be broken means to be aware of who we are before the presence of a holy God. We see our weaknesses and our sinfulness. We accept our limitations. But we also appreciate His sustaining grace. We acknowledge that we can do nothing without Him. In short, to be broken is to humble ourselves before Him.

The apostle Paul had a “thorn in the flesh,” probably an eye problem. When he prayed for its removal, God refused to grant his prayer. 
But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong. (2 Corinthians 12:9-10, emphasis added.)
Like gold in the cracks of a broken pot, God’s grace makes us whole. May we realize our brokenness before our Lord and relish His all-sufficient grace for us!

Let us not deny our brokenness. Let us declare it!

Brothers and sisters, we are God’s kintsugi!

[1] “Kintsugi,” Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kintsugi, accessed January 14, 2015.

[2]  Ibid. Emphasis added.

[3] Ibid.

[4] All Bible verses are from the English Standard Version, unless otherwise noted.

[5] Dane Ortlund (9 July 2010), “Broken or Triumphant?” The Gospel Coalition, retrieved from http://www.thegospelcoalition.org/. Emphasis added.






Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

God Knows Judas Not Pay

In the National Geographic Magazine (May 2006 issue), in its cover story, The Judas Gospel , Professor Eliane Pagels of Princeton University claimed that the so-called gospel of Judas “ changes the history of early Christianity. ” Even UP Professor Randy David took notice of the Judas Gospel: “Strictly from a sociological standpoint, I think the discovery of the Gospel of Judas makes Christianity a far more interesting religion than what centuries of metaphysical theology has made of it.” (A Gospel for the Postmodern, Phil. Daily Inquirer, April 16, 2006) That’s why I spoke in our Young Pro Fellowship a few days ago on God Knows Judas Not Pay (A Biblical Response on the Judas Gospel). I believe opportunities like this hype on the Judas Gospel or the Da Vinci Code opens a door for us to share the true Gospel. For those who did not attend last Thursday, let me share briefly why we reject the Judas gospel. I came up with the acronym J-U-D-A-S. J udas was portrayed as a traitor in the Bibl
Read more

“Ubus-ubos Biyaya, Bukas Nakatunganga”

Image
That’s what my mother always told us when we were still kids. (Translation: “You spend everything today, you will have nothing tomorrow.” ) Image source: So, What's New ? Dionie did just that. Last April 2008, he won PHP14,125,032 in the Lotto 6/42 draw. Excitedly, he “lived the life of a millionaire, something he had been longing to experience. He lived in a P4-million house in a posh subdivision, drove around in a sports utility vehicle [which he bought the very same day he claimed his prize] , and gave goodwill money, ranging P1,000 to P 850,000, to relatives and friends. He also gambled daily, womanized, and went on regular drinking sprees.” (Source: Manila Bulletin ) He estimated that he squandered a minimum of P100,000 almost every day. He also lent money even to people he did not really know. “I just gave them and told them not to pay me back.” (Ibid) His bank had to issue him a special card so he can withdraw huge amounts of money quickly from the automated teller m
Read more

“Don’t drink the Kool-Aid!”

Image
Forty years ago, this expression became known as a description of blind obedience.   Source: Los Angeles Times On November 18, 1978, members of Peoples Temple, a cult group in Guyana, drank Kool-Aid drink laced with cyanide to commit a mass suicide “at the behest of their charismatic but paranoid leader, Jim Jones”. [1] According to the Encyclopaedia Britannica , “The death toll exceeded 900, including some 300 age 17 and under, making the incident one of the largest mass deaths in American history. ”  [2]  What made those people submit to such atrocity? According to Stella Morabito, a senior contributor to The Federalist online magazine, Peoples Temple is “Exhibit A… [of]  the dangers of the cult mindset or how vulnerable all people are to cult tactics.”  [3] She pointed out that, Coercive persuasion has immense power to shape and twist the human mind.  …[Jones’] utopian preaching of a humane world in which all lived happily in harmony resonated with the
Read more