Reverend Jennifer Nordstrom

"Ring the bells that still can ring

Forget your perfect offering

There is a crack in everything

That’s how the light gets in." 

 

– Leonard Cohen, Anthem

 

Brokenness is a reality of life. Different than sin, brokenness is the imperfection, the old wound, and the new hurt that are always part of living on this earth. Our human condition inevitably includes imperfection and pain. Some breaks can heal, some imperfections can transform. Some cannot. Some breaks forever change us, and some faults of character are with us our entire lives. We need to find the balance between continually moving towards wholeness and healing, and being present with what is here and now.

 

The movement toward wholeness works with being present now. We might imagine them circling around one another like two spiraling fish rather than being opposed to one another. Accepting loss is an important part of the grieving process. Experiencing and being present with pain helps transform it. There is no way around pain and grief—the only way out is through it.

 

In Therevada Buddhism, there is a story of a monk teaching his students about brokenness by explaining to them that the cup he holds is already broken. He explains that because he knows it is broken, he cradles the cup in his hands. His response to knowing the brokenness is coming, is to hold the cup dearly now. The coming pain of the break is inevitable, but how one responds to it is one’s choice. We can choose to respond by resisting the inevitability, which will create suffering. If we accept it, the pain and break still exist but the suffering does not. Pain is inevitable in life, but suffering is our choice.

 

We need to understand our own patterned response to brokenness. Where do we go when we are broken? Do we typically lean into brokenness? Do we deny it and avoid it? Do we try to fix brokenness immediately because we are uncomfortable with letting it be? Or do we throw broken things away too quickly without trying to repair them? When we notice our own patterns, we can lean in the direction of balance. If we pay attention to our experience of brokenness, there is much we can learn. What is our spiritual reaction to it? Many people have had some of their most clear moments of truth while experiencing brokenness. The break can cause the mind’s busyness to quiet and the ego to empty. This offers a clearer vision of reality, and a deep sense of interconnectedness with all being emerges, which some understand as God. This experience can come in other ways, too. One does not have to experience trauma to spiritually mature, nor does all trauma induce this sort of transformative experience. But many people have had a deep sense of tranquil interconnectedness during intense loss. It has a particular way of revealing that given reality underlying our busy daily lives. The experience of this underlying interconnection is not the purpose of pain, but can be a blessed consequence of it.

 

The break can be a spiritual learning opportunity for individuals, churches, and society. If we know brokenness is inevitable and that we can learn and grow from it, how do we spiritually prepare ourselves for it? What is a spiritual discipline that would increase our capacity for spiritual resilience in the face of crisis?

 

--written by Jennifer Nordstrom with input from the month’s theme team: Janne Eller-Isaacs, Rob Eller-Isaacs, Lisa Friedman, KP Hong, and Ruth Palmer