The morning commute from Barrhaven to Parkwood Hills during the past several weeks has been dominated by the broken water main on Woodroffe Avenue. Yet water and sewer pipes spill millions of litres of untreated sewage into the Ottawa River year after year when rainstorms overwhelm the capacity of the drainage system. Much more than a single water pipe feeding the south end of our city, the system is broken.

As I write this, though, a broken oil barrel in a shop class at Mother Teresa High School has broken much more - the life of Eric Leighton, aged eighteen, broken, blown apart in an instant by a gas explosion; his family, friends, and community left reeling.

In recent weeks, we have witnessed from afar the images of brokenness on a far wider scale: broken, twisted rubble across the southern and mid-western United States, the result of tornadoes which have taken hundreds of lives. In Canada, we have seen brokenness nearer in the pictures of homes flooded in Manitoba and others razed to the ground by wildfires in northern Alberta.

How do we make sense of life amid all this brokenness? Many ask, "Where is God in all of this brokenness?"

A man named Job comes to mind. The image of Job, having lost both his property and his children in a hurricane, sitting among the ruins, his body covered in painful sores, scraping himself with a piece of broken pottery, is a powerful picture. It is even more powerful, because Job in his brokenness refuses the taunts of his nearest to give up, to curse God, and to die. Job is broken, but he lives amid the brokenness - and eventually, his life is restored.

One far greater than Job also speaks to us out of the brokenness. Jesus came and was broken for us; Jesus came and was broken among us. When we celebrate the Lord's Supper, we hear Jesus' words: "This is my body, broken for you."

Through Jesus' brokenness, we are made whole, restored to a right relationship with God our Maker. Here is the source of real strength and hope for us, and for us to share with others living in brokenness. Whether that brokenness is the loss of a child by death, the end of a relationship or a job or a house or a dream, we are called to live in a broken world, but with hope. Jesus, broken, lives with us, and enables us to live amid brokenness. As Martin Smith invites us sing in the piece, "Shout to the north": "Rise up, church with broken wings ... you are strong when you feel weak; In ... brokenness complete."

Psalm 34: 18 - The Lord is close to the broken-hearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. (NIV)

Your pastor,
James T. Hurd