The Fix

We live in a world that is broken, fractured and fragile.  Some think it is beyond repair.  When asked by her brother if they lived on a blighted world, or a splendid one, Thomas Hardy's, Tess, said, "A blighted one."  Most people would agree with her.  However, it is not really the world which is broken and needs fixing, but the people who live in it.  To think of the creation in which we live is to affirm along with the writer of Genesis, "...it was very good."  (Genesis 1:31).  The creation is not only very good; it is also very beautiful, very powerful, very life giving.     

When we talk about the world being broken and beyond repair, we are thinking of its systems of relationships which cause us to touch not only those who are close and like us, but also far away and very different.  A casual glance brings into view people of different political parties speaking into existence chaos instead of compromise, an us-and-them mentality which strengthens the storms of separation, and all the extremisms of war, racism, and nationalism.  Not even the church is exempt as it tries to find a place of acceptance in an ever changing culture.  The creation is in good shape.  It is not broken, but firmly in the hands of the creative and sustaining Creator God.  We, the people, who live in this marvelous creation are broken, fractured, and beyond repair.  

The solution to the brokenness of our human condition is found in the story of the gospel.  The holy message acknowledges that we have forgotten that we were conceived and born with the imprint of the Creator.  Some have said through the centuries that we are born in sin, but it seems more appropriate to say that we are born with the essence of God within us.  It is this essence of God that we have lost.  The gospel speaks of the length of the love of God as He seeks to show us the way back to who we were created to be.  The unconditional love of the Christ on the cross shows us how much we are loved and how we are to live with one another.  The fix to human brokenness is not in us, but in what God has done for us through Christ on the cross.