The broken silence of Christmas
The beauty of brokenness
On a regular basis Angela Reitsma Bick, Editor of Christian Courier, sends out an email to columnists like me with a reminder of due dates and with a heads-up about issue themes. In November she reminded us that the December issue would have two themes: Christmas (no surprise there) and “In Praise of Broken Things.” This latter suggestion flabbergasted me. Come on Angela, how can anyone praise brokenness? Isn’t “broken,” by definition, a terrible thing? Who can praise broken promises? Broken relationships? Broken bones? Broken health? Broken dreams? Broken marriages? Broken . . . you name it?
But then I stopped myself. I’ve always experienced Angela as a thoughtful and wise woman. I know she wouldn’t make a nonsensical thematic suggestion. So I started thinking a little more deeply about this matter of brokenness. It didn’t take me long to produce a list of positive brokenness.
The brokenness we seek
When a fever breaks, we know the infection causing it has broken. When the darkness of depression lifts and the light of hope breaks in we give thanks. When walls of separation break between people and/or nations we rejoice. We are relieved when we manage to break a long-standing bad habit. When unstoppable pandemics ravage the world, we marvel at the production of vaccines that can mitigate (break) the hold of the virus and let us hug our loved ones again.
And as I thought some more about brokenness, Christmas came to mind, and I marveled at Angela and the other editorial CC minds that produced the idea of linking Christmas with brokenness.
Between the closing of the Old Testament period and the beginning of the New, there was a period of 400 years when God was silent. There was no apparent word from the Lord. And then, the silence broke! The Word was made flesh and this Word was and is the ultimate breaking through of God’s grace. Jesus broke the Old Testament wall of division between Jew and Gentile. Each time we share the broken communion bread and crushed grapes of the Lord’s Supper, it reminds us that Jesus’ crucified and broken body is a testimony of the peace that he brokered between God and humankind.
So, in a paradoxical way, the breakthrough of God’s grace in Jesus Christ at Christmas time is the healing balm for us and all creation if only we are willing to have our wills broken, so that God’s will will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
A blessed Christmas to all!
