Repaired and Repurposed
Author: Fr. John Borrego
August 19, 2020
Dear Parish Family,
An old
Japanese art form is called kintsugi. When a pottery vessel is broken, it is
repaired. The cracks are filled with lacquer mixed with precious metal—gold,
silver, or platinum. This is an expression of the Japanese philosophy of wabi-
sabi—embracing the flawed or imperfect. Just because something is old, or much-repaired, or worn does not mean it is
not useful, and, in its own way, beautiful.
We need not
always discard the old and pursue the new. We can look beyond what appear at
first to be imperfections, and see the use and the value and the beauty of what
has been in use for a long time.
I think our brother Jesus looks upon us as
kintsugi—flawed, broken vessels restored to use and beauty by the golden
lacquer of his love and grace. We fall and break. He dips his brush in gold and
carefully puts us back together. We go back into his service, as the vessels
that bear his name and his word and his love to the hungry and thirsty world.
We are not discarded for our imperfections. We are repaired and repurposed.
Is my life
broken, flawed, cracked? Absolutely. Maybe yours is too. But we are reassembled
by the Master Craftsman to new use and beauty.
The Rev. John Borrego
Priest at St. John’s
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