In a recent blog, Carrie Newcomer shared a story told by Terry Tempest Williams about an artist who creates inner-city murals.
"The first thing the artist does is instruct teams of residents to go out and gather up all the small broken things they can find discarded on the streets and alleyways of the neighborhood. They return with all kinds of glass, metal and other found bits and pieces which are washed and carefully sorted. Then the artist helps the group to design a mural using images that are meaningful to the community. With water and grout and hands (most importantly hands) they create a large wall sized mosaic made entirely from things that might seem damaged, fragmented or beyond repair. The wall becomes a testament to the resilience of the people who live in that community, a symbol of how what was wounded can be healed, a reminder that even our struggles can be remade and redeemed into something of beauty."
This story reminds me of the Japanese art form of kintsugi - in which broken pottery is repaired with gold or silver lacquer, with the understanding that the piece is more beautiful for having been broken... and is now transformed into something new.
As a spiritual director, my work with a directee often feels like we are creating a mosaic, gathering up the pieces of life, holding them prayerfully and expectantly in God's light, and witnessing how these fragments can be transformed by Love into something beautiful. It is an inspiring process.
“In a sense we are all being invited to remember
what at some level we knew in the innocence of our childhood,
but have since forgotten or come to doubt,
that light is woven through all things
like a thread of gold.”
― John Philip Newell,
In her book "Finding Beauty in a Broken World" Terry Tempest Williams writes,
"We live our lives looking for that thread of gold we can follow to the next clearing of light. It is momentary. We are caught in the recognition that we are not alone but belong to a quivering web of faith."
A Blessing for Learning to Belong (Kate Bowler)
Come closer, and let me tell you what God said,
because it changed everything.
It’s an identity, a home address.
And God wrote it on my heart so I’d never forget:
“You belong.”
It’s not just that I am accepted,
(for the tolerant will stretch to that—on a good day).
No. I am needed and wanted. And so are you.
Why? Because of everything we are, right now.
Each one of us is just the right shape
and size and color,
the exact flavor that was missing
before we showed up.
Different as you are, different as I am,
we belong.
So now I have to tell myself,
don’t hold back.
Bring it, most generously,
your whole actual self,
as truly as you know how.
God has something beautiful
in mind that includes us all.
So come and risk it,
enter into the restoration
that is on the way,
the Advent of belonging.
Advent Practice: This Advent you might like to set an intention to become more aware of God's healing light weaving through your day like a golden thread. Imagine yourself held safely and firmly in the gold thread, and notice how you are deeply connected to other people and creation.
Song: Benedictus (Porter's Gate)
Resources:
Newcomer, Carrie. carrienewcomer.substack.com, December 15, 2024.
Newell, John Philip, Sacred Earth, Sacred Soul: Celtic Wisdom for Reawakening to What Our Soul's Know and Healing the World, New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 2021.
Williams, Terry Tempest, "Finding Beauty in a Broken World," New York, NY: Vintage Publishing, 2008, p. 383.
Bowler, Kate (2024). The Weary World Rejoices: An Advent Guide from Everything Happens. This is a resource that we are following throughout the advent season. Feel free to download the daily or weekly guide.
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