As we continue our “Mended” Lenten journey, this week’s theme is Visible Mending. 

Often when something breaks, our instinct is to hide the repair. We want the crack sealed, the tear invisible, the history erased. I have been around enough churches to tell you that sometimes trying to hide the repair doesn’t work!  But some of the most beautiful forms of repair do the opposite—they highlight the place where healing happened. 

In the Japanese art of kintsugi, broken pottery is repaired with lacquer mixed with gold. Instead of disguising the fracture, the repair is illuminated. The bowl becomes stronger, and the place that once seemed like damage becomes part of its beauty. 

Our faith tells a similar story. 

This week, we are jumping ahead of the Lent and Easter narrative, but do not be afraid. After the resurrection, when Jesus appears to the disciples, the wounds are still visible. Thomas is invited to touch them. The scars are not erased. They remain as testimony to what love endured and what God has restored. Jesus resurrection does not mean that he was never crucified.  New life does not mean that pain never happened, or that we were changed by it. This reminds us that the goal of healing is not to pretend nothing happened. 

The goal is renewed integrity—a life that has been repaired, strengthened, and made whole in a deeper way. 

Many of us carry places of visible mending: 

• losses that shaped us – a parent, spouse, child, mentor or friend who died 

• mistakes that taught us humility – that time our anger was to strong, that time we were dishonest, that time we prejudged someone 

• seasons of struggle that deepened our compassion – having greater empathy for others  as the result of our own lived experience 

Rather than hiding these parts of our story, the gospel invites us to see them differently. What if the places where we have been mended are also the places where grace becomes most visible? What if those wounds – are not actually dreadful curses of the past, but a witness that God is great and life emerges!    

My wounds around navigating my coming our as a gay man have helped me to be a resource for others.  My wounds around my alcoholism have helped me to walk with people in recovery.  All of this mistakes and hardships that I have experienced are a part of my life, and can help others in their new life. I have my scars and ripped edges – the harm of the past though does not define ability to engage a complete and loving future. 

Lent is a season that allows us to acknowledge our wounded parts. It is also a season that reminds us that God’s work is not to discard the broken pieces, but to restore and strengthen what already exists. 

Grace and Peace, 

Pastor M@