Reading Through 'The Broken Way'

 As I am reading through The Broken Way there are so many parts of it that are like a healing salve to my soul. In chapters two and three she talks about Communion in a way that for me was like a dawning of new revelation. For some reason I have never been able to connect with the act of Communion that way that I feel like I should. However when she describes Christ breaking bread and drinking wine with his disciples....

 'In his last hours, in His abandonment, Jesus doesn't look for comfort or try to shield Himself against the rejection; He breaks the temptation to self protect and gives the vulnerability of Himself. In the sharp edge of grief, Jesus doesn't look for something to fill the broken and alone places; He takes and gives thanks and then does the most countercultural thing: He doesn't keep or hoard or hold on ~ but breaks and gives away.'

 'What if the abundance of communion is only found there in the brokennes of suffering - because suffering is where God lives? Suffering is where God gives the most healing intimacy.'

 'We are now Christ's only earthly body - and if we aren't the ones broken and given, we are the ones who dis-member Christ's body. Unless we are the ones broken and given, we incapacitate Christ's body.'
 
  I have often felt broken. So broken that my heart felt ripped out of my chest. I remember this one instant where I was sitting in a coffee shop with a councellor and I was talking about so much pain I was feeling emotionally. So much was going wrong, there was so much I had no idea how to deal with. I felt so lost. She was the one who looked at me with compassion and talked about truly entering into Christ's suffering and the honor that that can be. I had not heard about that before. In some ways I feel like I could have been offended and written that off but for some reason I wasn't. There was a truth for me in that that rang as clear as the clearest bell. I knew that this was a part of my journey. There is something that comes out of suffering that can be so intensely ugly and I have walked that journey with a strong steady stride. However I ended up walking smack dab into brick walls, tripping and falling over many chains, and being so beat up I felt unrecognizable inside. After reaching up for help and getting out of there and off that road and cleansing my soul...I took part in the suffering in a different way. It is never easy. However we are created for intimacy, connection, attachment and for things to feel authentic and freely given. When we are able to relate to someone on a deep level often it is because we understand a bit of what they are going through....and usually it is the sad or hard things that made us feel that connection if we have both gone through it....

 How would Christ want anything different? He wants to connect with us, share in our laughter and our joy and cry with us in our sorrow. He knows so well that life here on Earth is full of darkness and pain because He has experienced it first hand. He knows; and when we are suffering He is right there, arms extended, reaching out, the most compassionate heart there is and we can walk right into His arms. His brokenness can heals ours. His compassion can be the salve our soul needs. His kindness can ease the ache.

 'How can it be? When we're naked and ashamed and alone in our brokenness, Christ envelops us with His intimate grace. When we're rejected and abandoned and feel beyond wanting, Jesus cups our face: "Come close, my Beloved". When we're dirty and tear-stained and despairing, Jesus Christ is attracted to us and proposes undying love: 'All that you're carrying I take...and all that I am is yours'....There is a kind of intimacy that can only be tasted and swallowed. There is a wooing that washes your wounds. There is a union for all this brokenness.'

Have a lovely Thursday
May you feel loved and cared for in your brokenness. xo