When Human Bonds are Broken

The frustration, anger, struggle and questioning is not limited to a marriage, and divorce does not have the corner of the market when it comes to a fracture of relationship.  It is more about brokenness.  We are all broken.  We are a broken people.  The challenge becomes what do we do with the realities of these situations, how do we respond?  Are we going to react with Law of Moses or with Gospel Jesus Christ?  What do we think God wants our response to be? ....

Most of us have seen fine crystal.  For many it is beautiful to look at.  However, if you drop it, it shatters into a thousand pieces, making it impossible to put back together again.  Sometimes we know that human beings are like leaded crystal.  We are lovely until we make a mistake.  Then life seems to shatter us into a thousand pieces and it seems we can never be put back together just right.  And for some relationships it will be like trying to put the glass back together again in order to restore the connection, it just doesn’t seem realistic.  However, that does not mean we have to keep throwing shards of glass at one another.  Instead we work to at least see each other as children of God, and live in that community.

(From Pastor Randy's Sermon) 

Reflection:  Think of a relationship with a family member, friend, coworker or church member with whom you have experienced brokenness.  Recall as many details as you can about the cause of the rift. 

Oddly enough, rifts can be perpetuated long beyond the time when the break first appeared.  It is not unusual for people to tolerate the pain of a broken relationship rather than do what it takes to reconcile.  The longer the rift exists the harder the heart becomes.  As time passes, many relationships that were once quite intimate lapse into a phase that is distant or detached, if not completely estranged.