By Luke Gascho, director, Merry Lea Environmental Learning Center, professor of sustainability/environment
Scripture: Romans 5:1-11 (NRSV)
Brokenness happens in life. It is not what we desire or hope for, but challenges and fractures befall us. We find ourselves in a state of despair and hopelessness. The way forward was once clear, but now there seems to be no path.
The text for today names the malaise in several terms: suffering, weakness, sin and enemy. In response to these terms of brokenness, new paths are proclaimed. There is the route of being justified. On this path things are made right again. This act of grace, in the midst of suffering, yields qualities of endurance, character, hope and love. A second route is that of reconciliation. The journey along this path restores relationships through Christ’s death and life. Things are made new.
Participating in acts of making things right again is hard work – and at the same time is energizing. Looking at restorative processes in nature is a helpful reminder that renewal in the midst of brokenness does happen.
Three years ago, I planted a small orchard of fruit and nut trees. I was delighted to see the growth and health of the trees at the end of the first growing season. But… that fall someone came onto my property at night and broke off a number of the young trees. I was brokenhearted – and the broken trees were jeopardized. There were several that didn’t survive, so I needed to plant new trees in their place.
There were other trees that had been broken in half. I examined them carefully and realized that while the trunk had been damaged, strong roots had grown all summer. I knew that if I pruned the trees carefully below the broken area, that new life would emerge. And it did! Now after two more growing seasons health and vigor has returned. In some cases there is a slight ‘zig and zag’ in the trunk, but it is strong. In each following season the tree will continue in its restoration – and fruit will be produced.
Jesus is the orchardist who is committed to acting in our lives. Christ is the one who brings salve to our wounds. We are made right by the loving, Creator God.
Scripture: Romans 5:1-11 (NRSV)
Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand; and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God. 3And not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.
6For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7Indeed, rarely will anyone die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person someone might actually dare to die. 8But God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us. 9Much more surely then, now that we have been justified by his blood, will we be saved through him from the wrath of God. 10For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more surely, having been reconciled, will we be saved by his life. 11But more than that, we even boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.