Embracing Brokenness: The Path to Healing and Community

Devotional

Day 1: Embrace Vulnerability for Healing

Recognizing and naming our Brokenness is the first step toward healing. By bringing our deepest vulnerabilities into the light, we open ourselves to God's transformative power. This act of courage allows us to experience true healing and strength. The story of the man with the withered hand in the New Testament serves as a powerful illustration of this truth. Jesus asked him to do the one thing he could not do—stretch out his hand. In doing so, the man found healing and strength. Similarly, we are called to identify our own "withered hand," those areas of our lives that we are most ashamed of or try to hide, and bring them into the open. [02:35]

Isaiah 57:15 (ESV): "For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: 'I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the contrite.'"

Reflection: What is one area of your life that you have been hiding due to shame or fear? How can you bring this into the light today, trusting in God's healing power?

Day 2: Prioritize Goodness Over Comfort

Following Jesus involves denying ourselves, not by rejecting our identity, but by prioritizing the pursuit of good over the avoidance of pain. This means embracing legitimate suffering as part of our spiritual journey. The call to follow Jesus is a call to deny ourselves, not in the sense of rejecting our identity, but in prioritizing the pursuit of what is good over the avoidance of pain. This involves embracing legitimate suffering, as opposed to the neurotic avoidance of it. [03:09]

2 Corinthians 4:17-18 (ESV): "For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal."

Reflection: What is one area in your life where you are avoiding necessary discomfort? How can you choose to embrace this discomfort for the sake of spiritual growth today?

Day 3: Pain as a Pathway to Connection

Pain, though often unwelcome, offers a unique gift by opening us up to others. In shared vulnerability, we find strength and healing, as pain connects us in ways nothing else can. Pain, though often unwelcome, offers a strange gift. It opens us up to others in ways nothing else can. In communities of recovery or grief, people find a space where they no longer have to hide their Brokenness. Instead, they can bring it into the light, finding healing and strength in shared vulnerability. [07:15]

2 Corinthians 1:4 (ESV): "Who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God."

Reflection: Think of a recent painful experience. How can you use this experience to connect with and support someone else who might be going through something similar?

Day 4: Community in Shared Brokenness

In communities of recovery or grief, people find a space where they no longer have to hide their Brokenness. Shared vulnerability creates a powerful bond, allowing for healing and transformation. Pain, though often unwelcome, offers a strange gift. It opens us up to others in ways nothing else can. In communities of recovery or grief, people find a space where they no longer have to hide their Brokenness. Instead, they can bring it into the light, finding healing and strength in shared vulnerability. [08:24]

Galatians 6:2 (ESV): "Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ."

Reflection: Who in your community can you reach out to today to share in their burden or invite them to share in yours? How can you create a space for shared vulnerability?

Day 5: Transforming Brokenness into Blessing

The spiritual call is to move our Brokenness from the shadow of the curse into the light of blessing. This involves accepting God's love and grace, which transforms our pain into a source of strength and healing. As we bring our Brokenness before God and others, we begin to experience the deep love and acceptance that comes from being known and loved despite our flaws. This is the invitation: to stretch out our hand, to name our Brokenness, and to find healing and life in the light of God's love. [09:10]

Isaiah 61:3 (ESV): "To grant to those who mourn in Zion—to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit; that they may be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he may be glorified."

Reflection: What is one area of Brokenness in your life that you can bring before God today, asking Him to transform it into a blessing? How can you begin to see this area as a source of strength rather than a curse?

Sermon Summary

In our journey through life, we often encounter moments of profound Brokenness. This Brokenness is not something to be hidden or avoided but rather brought into the light, both before God and within our community. The story of the man with the withered hand in the New Testament serves as a powerful illustration of this truth. Jesus asked him to do the one thing he could not do—stretch out his hand. In doing so, the man found healing and strength. Similarly, we are called to identify our own "withered hand," those areas of our lives that we are most ashamed of or try to hide, and bring them into the open.

The call to follow Jesus is a call to deny ourselves, not in the sense of rejecting our identity, but in prioritizing the pursuit of what is good over the avoidance of pain. This involves embracing legitimate suffering, as opposed to the neurotic avoidance of it. The leaders and prophets of Israel, despite being chosen and blessed by God, lived deeply broken lives. Their stories remind us that our sufferings are not mere interruptions but touch us in our uniqueness, revealing something profound about who we are.

Pain, though often unwelcome, offers a strange gift. It opens us up to others in ways nothing else can. In communities of recovery or grief, people find a space where they no longer have to hide their Brokenness. Instead, they can bring it into the light, finding healing and strength in shared vulnerability. The spiritual call is to move our Brokenness from the shadow of the curse into the light of blessing. This is not easy, but it is essential for true healing and transformation.

As we bring our Brokenness before God and others, we begin to experience the deep love and acceptance that comes from being known and loved despite our flaws. This is the invitation: to stretch out our hand, to name our Brokenness, and to find healing and life in the light of God's love.

Key Takeaways

1. Embrace Your Brokenness: Recognizing and naming our Brokenness is the first step toward healing. By bringing our deepest vulnerabilities into the light, we open ourselves to God's transformative power. This act of courage allows us to experience true healing and strength. [02:35]
2. Deny Yourself for Greater Good: Following Jesus involves denying ourselves, not by rejecting our identity, but by prioritizing the pursuit of good over the avoidance of pain. This means embracing legitimate suffering as part of our spiritual journey. [03:09]
3. Pain as a Gift: Pain, though often unwelcome, offers a unique gift by opening us up to others. In shared vulnerability, we find strength and healing, as pain connects us in ways nothing else can. [07:15]
4. Community in Brokenness: In communities of recovery or grief, people find a space where they no longer have to hide their Brokenness. Shared vulnerability creates a powerful bond, allowing for healing and transformation. [08:24]
5. Move from Curse to Blessing: The spiritual call is to move our Brokenness from the shadow of the curse into the light of blessing. This involves accepting God's love and grace, which transforms our pain into a source of strength and healing. [09:10]
** [09:10]

Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[00:45] - Naming Our Brokenness
[01:14] - Personal Revelation of Brokenness
[01:58] - The Withered Hand Story
[02:35] - Identifying Your Withered Hand
[03:09] - Denying Yourself
[03:41] - Embracing Legitimate Suffering
[04:11] - Broken Lives of Biblical Leaders
[05:04] - Pain's Unique Touch
[05:34] - Rocky 3 and the Prediction of Pain
[06:21] - Mr. T's Transformation
[07:02] - Pain's Strange Gift
[08:24] - Community in Brokenness
[09:10] - Moving from Curse to Blessing
[10:47] - Invitation to Healing

Sermon Clips

Welcome to The Fellowship of the withered hand where we find that healing and strength and power and life comes not when we try to avoid the hardest things about our lives and ourselves but when we actually bring them into the light before God and each other. [00:00:34]

The moment has come to talk about our Brokenness. You are a broken person. I am a broken person. All the people that we know or know about are broken. Our Brokenness is so visible and tangible, so concrete and specific, it's often difficult to believe there is much to think, speak, or write about other than our Brokenness. [00:01:02]

I used to believe that was not true. I mean, and I would certainly affirm in some general broad theological sense that all we like sheep have gone astray and that includes me, but I thought of myself as a person who is basically whole until one day I found out that I was not, and it was pain and failure in my work and with my family at just about every area of my life that brought me to a place where I realize there is a Brokenness inside of me that I cannot fix. [00:01:24]

Jesus has him stand up in the synagogue in front of everybody and then gives him the command that he most did not want to hear: reveal now, disclose, let everybody take a look at the thing about you that you most don't want people to see, of which you are most ashamed, that you most try to manage or navigate around. Stretch out your hand, do the one thing that you cannot do. [00:02:05]

Matthew 16:24: If anybody would follow after me, let them deny themselves, take up their cross, and follow me. Now, to deny yourself doesn't mean to think that it's a bad thing that you have a self. It's a very good thing that you have a self. It simply means to say I will no longer make the desires of myself the ultimate goal of my life. [00:03:04]

Our call is to move from this kind of neurotic avoidance, denial—I'm okay, I don't want anybody to know the truth about me—to the legitimate suffering that is involved in following Jesus, in taking up the cross, and exposing the truth about me. There is Brokenness deep inside of me, and I cannot fix it. Stretch out your hand. [00:03:46]

The leaders and Prophets of Israel who were clearly Chosen and blessed all lived very broken lives. Let me say that one more time: the leaders and Prophets of Israel who were chosen by God, who were blessed by God, who were loved by God, lived deeply broken lives. [00:04:08]

Pain offers a strange gift to us. Eleanor Stub, who's written this wonderful book "Wandering in Darkness," talks about one of the strange gifts that pain gives to us is that it opens us up to other people in a way nothing else does. We are not The Fellowship of the five beta Capas. We are not The Fellowship of the Forbes richest 400. [00:07:00]

When I'm on an airplane, I often like to be alone. I don't want to talk to the other person. I just want to have a book and have my own little private zone. I'm just that way. But she said if the plane is going down, if it becomes clear the plane is going to crash, I want to talk to that other person. [00:07:42]

The power that comes in communities of recovery or communities of grief or talking to a good friend that will work with folks who have been through divorce, and there's a common dynamic there often where people who are common and they bring a sense of failure or guilt or shame, and yet somehow when they're all together, I don't have to hide anymore. [00:08:24]

The great spiritual call of the Beloved children is to pull their Brokenness away from the shadow of the curse and put it under the light of the blessing. This is not as easy as it sounds. Actually, it doesn't sound easy to me at all, but I think Henry Nan had been working on it for many, many, many years. [00:08:54]

This deep gift that pain brings comes when I'm able to bring myself precisely with my Brokenness. I struggle so much with wanting other people to think I am smart and sound and healthy and successful. Nancy asked me just the other day, do you ever have moments when, not because you're trying to generate it, you just get a sense as a gift from Heaven of God saying, John, I love you. [00:09:21]

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