Repairs

Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. (Isaiah 43:19)

And He who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also he said, ‘Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” (Revelation 21:5)

One of my favorite Christmas decorations is one that Joel and I received before we were even married, from a couple who owned a gift shop on Rockport’s Bearskin Neck. They were members of the church in West Gloucester as college students. We were to graduate soon, and get married, and this ornament was a combination Christmas/graduation/wedding gift, I think.

It is a fragile thing. Seven pieces of clear, bubbly glass that look like icicles, connected with nylon filament, it is a crèche which I like to hang from the chandelier over the dining room table. Over the past 42 years, it has been broken many times, but I can’t let it go. Joel shakes his head every time I get out the superglue and insist that “This will be easy to fix!” Sometimes it is the fishing line that needs to be reattached, sometimes the glass is broken. So far I have managed to put it all back together each time, though some of the scars show more than others.

Maybe my need to fix this crèche over and over again is something I got from my dad. When I was little, I believed he could fix anything. As a mom, I loved it when Jody and Jordan would bring me broken toys, believing I could magically make them new again. What can I say — I love fixing things!

But there are many things I know I can’t fix. The coronavirus, systemic racism, global warming… We live in a broken world. There are so many things that are beyond our abilities to make whole. We might be able to make small changes, patch some of the cracks, with scars showing. But healing this hurting world is way beyond us.

Thanks be to God, we do not have to fix the world! God has promised, not just to patch the world up like a glass Christmas ornament with superglue so that the scars will still show, but to make all things NEW. During this Advent season, we remember and rejoice in this promise, which God has already begun, by sending his Son to be born. The repair process is in progress. Do you perceive it?

Healing God, Thank you for your promise to make all things new. Help us to be patient as you take the broken pieces of our lives and through your love, make us whole. Amen.

-Wendy Guillemette