I will restore your leaders as in days of old, your rulers as at the beginning. Afterward you will be called the City of Righteousness, the Faithful City. Isaiah 1:26
“If the faith that I was raised in had a fault, and it did, it was precisely that it did not allow for mistakes. It demanded that you get it right the first time. There was supposed to be no need for a second chance. If you made a mistake, you lived with it and, like the rich young man, were doomed to be sad, at least for the rest of your life. A serious misake was a permanent stigmatization, a mark that you wore like Cain.
I have seen that mark on all kinds of people: divorcees, ex-priests, ex-religious, people who have had abortions, married people who have had affairs, people who have made serious mistakes with their children, and countless others who have made serious mistakes. There is too little around to help them.
We need a theology of brokenness. We need a theology which teaches us that even though we cannot unscramble an egg, God’s grace let’s us live happily and with renewed innocence far beyond any egg we may have scrambled. We need a theology that teaches us that God does not just give us one chance, but that every time we close a door He opens another one for us.”
Ronald Rolheiser in “Forgotten Among the Lilies” in Celtic Daily Prayer (New York: Harper Collins, 2002) 630-631. The new header photo is of my favorite lamppost in the new apartment complex.
I hope after reading this today you simply, in your mind, affirmed that we do need such a theology lived out as followers of Christ. And, as Rolheiser notes, it requires a generous measure of grace.
Got a sign for the apartment a few weeks ago. It reads: “Grace isn’t a little prayer you say before receiving a meal. It’s a way to live.” What if we all adopted this approach for our living?
Here is a basic theology of brokenness: We are all marked by sin but the grace of Jesus removes the stigmatization and sets us free to a future marked by forgiveness, love, hope, and peace.
So, for our generosity, let’s soak in grace and share it widely. In so doing, we bring the restoration and righteousness that Isaiah envisioned so long ago.