Broken Fragments
I attend a church where we celebrate the Lord’s Supper or Eucharist on a weekly basis–actually, we celebrate it on Sunday and on Wednesday. Recently, we have been using a liturgy for the Eucharist that comes from the church in Kenya and includes this prayer:
O God of our ancestors, God of our people, before whose face the human generations pass away: We thank you that in you we are kept safe forever, and that the broken fragments of our history are gathered up in the redeeming act of your dear Son, remembered in this holy sacrament of bread and wine. Help us to walk daily in the Communion of Saints, declaring our faith in the forgiveness of sins and the resurrection of the body. Now send us out in the power of your Holy Spirit to live and work for your praise and glory. Amen.
What does this have to do with justice or poverty or mercy? Well, “the broken fragments of our history are gathered up in the redeeming act of [Jesus Christ].” Praise God that through His love and through His mercy, all of the injustice that we have committed, that our ancestors have committed, that our children and grandchildren will commit, is gathered up through Jesus Christ, the Just, for if they were not, I don’t think that this life would be worth living.
The end of this particular liturgy is a blessing, and it goes like this:
All our problems we send to the cross of Christ. All our difficulties we send to the cross of Christ. All the devil’s works we send to the cross of Christ. All our hopes we set on the risen Christ.
And so, today, as I am surrounded by a world filled with injustice, as I struggle against my own sinful inclination towards injustice and unmercifulness, I set my hopes on the risen Christ, for, as my dear husband gently reminded me yesterday, “Susan, one person cannot change the world by herself, but God can.” What a comfort. What a hope!
