Kintsugi

Jesus Says, ‘I AM, EASTER’

May I first begin by wishing you a blessed EASTER!

I wonder have you heard of the Japanese art of kintsugi? It means ‘golden joinery.’ At a recent Rock Solid (youth group) I heard a lovely description of the way that this art almost parallels the story of Easter.  The story goes that in the 15^th Century a Japanese shogun, Ashikaga Yoshimasa, sent a broken tea bowl back to China to have it mended! He was unhappy with the result! To make it better an art-form developed involving adding real gold into the resin, the cracks are now not hidden; they are emphasized but made to look beautiful.  The broken pottery has been ‘born again.’

                To me this is a parable of Easter. The pot that is broken is of course humanity or our world. All sorts of efforts are made, but in truth the brokenness remains. So God decides to pour his pure gold into the wreckage of our broken world.  Of course there remain many ‘pots’ or lives or situations that remain fractured and broken. However there is now available the hope of transformation.  The pure gold which we all so desperately need is the love and forgiveness of the son of God. Everything can be made beautiful with a touch of this love. Nothing need be discarded, all things can be transformed. 

The key to understanding this story is to really appreciate just how valuable and precious the gold is.  The pure gold is poured out upon broken crockery: the Japanese shogun must have really loved his tea bowl…. And the God of Easter must truly love us.

                A final twist on the parable: if we have been restored, (ie if we have his gold in our brokenness) we are also equipped to be part of the restoration of others. Pots that have been repaired are dynamic, the gold is alive in us, indeed can become infectious from us to help others receive the healing and grace which we all need!

                So again: Happy Easter to you and those you love. May the pure gold of Jesus restore your life, so that others can see his beauty and even receive an offering of his love from you.

Stephen

Thanks for all the teachers!

A Blog from my Thought for the day on Radio Bristol 

I've realised that I am getting old, today is my last ever parents evening.  My children have had some wonderful teachers over the years; indeed I hope I am one of them, although I suspect I have taught as many bad habits as good ones!

People that teach us come in all shapes and sizes. I remember a Physics teacher who, single handed, changed my life: he didn't see me as my chemistry teacher did: ‘lazy, immature and not as clever as he thinks he is!’ My Physics teacher lit a spark in me; he saw potential neither I nor others had seen. Then there was a welcomer at my old church: Dennis. He knew everyone’s name and made every one of us feel special. Sometimes people teach us by the way they cope with things, their reactions. I remember Tony and Beth whose son, a friend of mine was murdered by two of his ‘friends’. They helped me to mourn and also showed incredible mercy towards their son’s killers and families. At the time I was losing my faith, their response showed me something incredibly deep.

Of course, as I get old, I’m supposed to be a teacher myself… trouble is I still have so much to learn. That’s why I still try to spend time with my teacher every day. Like my physics teacher his patience still lights a spark in me.

                So there’s my thought, as we approach an election where there’ll be arguments about free schools and tuition fee’s and all sorts … stop, and think of all the people who have taught you,  and find a way to say thank you, even if that means showing kindness to someone else.