Peace in the Pieces

Life has pieces. Sometimes the pieces are all over the place, and sometimes the pieces are in fairly decent order. Sometimes the pieces seem to form a recognizable pattern, and sometimes they look totally random. Some pieces have rounded, harmless edges, and some pieces are dangerously sharp without mercy. But always pieces.

The humanist goal, then, would be to hold your pieces together. It's your job and yours alone to hold them together. Whoever does the best job of holding them together wins. Those who hold the pieces together well are the examples to follow, the inspiring stories, the stuff of legends. We particularly love the stories of those who had the most jagged pieces and then figured out how to hold them together with excellence. Indeed, there is much to commend, here, but one way to look at humanism is in terms of it's goal of holding the pieces together well.

The goal of religion, then, is to hold your sanctified pieces together. Religion is a baptized humanism, because it's your job and yours alone to hold those religious pieces together. Whoever does the best job of holding them together wins a golden crown, or something. The religious folks love to hold up such people as the examples and the inspiring stories, especially those who started with the most jagged pieces.

One slice of the religious community is the word-faith folks, otherwise known as the "prosperity gospel" or "name it and claim it." Their goal is for God to hold your pieces together so that you will win the same game as the humanists. As humble and righteous as it may sound that God is the one holding those pieces together, it still comes down to the same goal: to win by having your pieces held together well.

Jesus doesn't play these games. Jesus doesn't exist to hold these pieces together for you. He didn't come to earth to pick up your pieces, rearrange them, and then give you something prettier than what you started with. Rather, He says, "Your pieces are broken. I will dwell among them with you. Dwell with me among them, too. Eventually, I will replace them." Yes, he does clean some of them up and hold them together for us. Yes, we are more able to hold some of them together because of Him. But it's not the goal to hold those pieces together. That's the difference.

We dwell among broken pieces, and denying that truth leads to all kinds of false plans to reach false goals. His goal in our lives is not better management of the pieces, but rescue from them and full restoration. His method is to dwell in the broken pieces with us (for now), using those pieces as props in order to renew us. His goal for us is not better pieces, but to be a renewed people. In fact, He chose to take on broken pieces when He took on a fully human nature in the Incarnation to rescue us.

Since we will always have the pieces in this world, we can either deny the pieces or dwell in them with the One who chose brokenness with us. We will be renewed only by dwelling with Him there (for now).

Your pieces right now may seem overwhelming, and I have no intention of minimizing the anguish they cause. Quite the contrary - I'm embracing that anguish. The anguish is the intensity from which Jesus can rescue, restore, and renew. There is peace in the pieces.