From March 4: Our Broken Parts

We met Tuesday night for our first Lenten adult ed series, on the essay collection "This I Believe." I admit I chose the book a little impulsively-I'd enjoyed the essays they broadcast on the radio, and thought it would be a nice break from the slightly heavier stuff we did last fall with the "Commit" series. Yesterday we listened to an essay from a college student, Colin Bates, who works as a health aide for his "bosses," two developmentally disabled men. He talked about how our society values us for what we can do, not who we are. He writes,

Most of the people I know are embarrassed by what they can't do. They see it as a sign of weakness and consequently walk around with burdened hearts. For my generation the notion that success equals fulfillment has been pounded into our brains as if it was the truth. My generation is being told that if you can't do something alone, if you're not smart enough or capable enough, then you've failed. So far, the turning points in my life have not been the times I succeeded at something, but the times I've whispered, "I'm lost," or, "Help me," or, "I need a friend." In becoming helpless, I've allowed myself to be shaped and supported by those who love me-which makes helplessness a gift. And I have my bosses to thank for it. We've discovered the joy of helping and being helped. I believe sometimes our vulnerability is our strength.

Lent invites us to examine our more broken parts-the faces we don't always show the world. We're asked to be honest about the things in life that are hard-not just the ways we don't "measure up" to our own expectations, but the ways we're unfaithful to God. The thing is, we aren't just called to be faithful to God as if God were "out there" someplace-we are called to be faithful to the image of God in which we ourselves were created. One of the tasks of the Christian life is finding out who we really are-not just what we can do or where we live or who our parents are, but who we, genuinely and in our souls, are created to be. Not what we can do, but who we are.

When it comes to Lent our vulnerability really is our strength, because when we ask God for God's help always receive it. Thanks be to God!