I write this on November 1, All Saints’ Day, the day that we remember all the faithful who have gone before us into the heavenly Kingdom. Often we give thanks for those we have known and those pioneers of the faith that have inspired us to press on in this life, through all its ups and downs.

It is a lovely way to start a new month and, hopefully, sets the tone for a full month of giving thanks!

Giving Thanks for our Brokenness

But I would like to propose a different angle from which to give thanks this month: let us give thanks for our brokenness.

If you are a person who is familiar with Henri Nouwen’s book, The Wounded Healer, you may have a notion of where I am going with this idea. Take a close look at the picture above. Very simply, it is a broken piece of pottery—a bowl—that has been painstakingly put back together so that it can continue to be functional. In Japanese culture, this is a common practice and lets nothing go to waste. But it is more than that too. With the Japanese art of kintsugi, translated as ‘golden joinery’, broken pottery is mended with a lacquer that is mixed with powdered gold. As a philosophy, this historic method is more than just a practical repair—it honors the vessel’s breakage and repair as part of its history rather than something to disguise.

I have certainly glued many things together over my lifetime and always have sought to use the most effective super glue in my attempts to put something back together so no one would be able to tell it had been broken. Of course, if you look closely, the discerning eye can usually spot the repair—or it becomes apparent when the item is used and it literally comes apart at the seams where it was repaired!!

Embracing the brokenness vs. hiding the brokenness

Reflecting on these 2 approaches to broken pottery, it becomes apparent that they are also approaches to life. Which lifestyle are you living: Kintsugi lifestyle-where you embrace your brokenness and flaws as a way of honoring who you are and becoming better as a result…or Super Glue lifestyle-where you seek to hold yourself together in a way that others won’t see your brokenness and hoping that you don’t fall apart at the seams again?

Jesus: Kintsugi or Super Glue?

As followers of our Rabbi Jesus, and students of His Gospels, this should not be a hard question for us to answer. Just look at His beloved followers in the Gospels…the Samaritan woman at the well who had been through several husbands and was living with a man, a marginalized woman in her community and yet Jesus chooses her to be the first person to proclaim Him as Messiah…Peter, a disciple who followed Jesus faithfully yet could not accept Jesus’ teaching that He must die and then subsequently denied Jesus 3 times and abandoned Him at the cross, and yet called upon to be the Rock and first leader of Jesus’ Church…Mary Magdelene wrongly labeled a former prostitute but certainly healed from a life of brokenness and yet redeemed by Jesus and called upon to be the apostle to the apostles by being the first to proclaim the Gospel of the Risen Christ by Jesus on that first Easter morning.

Let’s be real here…Jesus Himself is a Kintsugi Savior—Son of God who enters a broken world, born in a stable, executed on a cross in what looked like an epic failure of his life’s work and ministry. And yet, in that epic brokenness came the salvation of the world.

Redemption as Jesus extends it is all about embracing the brokenness, honoring the way of becoming better from it, being remade into something that is even more beautiful than it was before, and not having to hide who we really are.

Let us give thanks…

And so, let us give thanks….for all of it. For the blessings AND the brokenness.

Let us embrace our brokenness and see Christ as the gold that fills in the cracks and makes us each more beautiful and whole and, of course, redeemed.

Kintsugi Jesus…loving us in our brokenness, through our brokenness, beyond our brokenness, transforming our brokenness…a brokenness made beautiful because of Him.

The Way of Jesus is, indeed, the Broken Way.

LOOKING AHEAD

Spiritual Wellness Community Membership for women for NOVEMBER

TUESDAYS @ NOON ET via ZOOM (sign up on website for link—recording available in Members’ area on website within 24 hours)

TOPIC: Brokenness

BOOK: The Broken Way by Ann Voskamp

SCRIPTURE: “The Lord is near to the brokenhearted, and saves the crushed in spirit.” —Psalm 34:18

All women who are seeking a loving community in which to follow Jesus, mature in faith, and be inspired/encouraged by other women are invited to join us! FIRST MONTH IS FREE—sign up at angelstringsministry.com and consider joining with a friend!

Gift certificates also available online.

COMING SOON!

Beginning in January 2026 our SWCM group will be embarking on a year-long journey together exploring and learning and praying about and developing our own Rule of Life….an individual endeavor that is best done in community. A Rule of Life is an intentional road map for apprenticing with Jesus to follow Him, learn from Him, and become like Him by learning to do what He did. It is a way of being in relationship with Jesus that is meant to grow and change as you grow and change…it is not rigid or legalistic, but spacious and gracious. I HOPE YOU WILL CONSIDER JOINING US FOR THIS REFLECTIVE JOURNEY FOR 2026 AS WE LEARN TO TRANSFORM OUR BROKENNESS INTO BEAUTY APPRENTICING TO JESUS.

With a grateful Kintsugi heart,

Julie Parsell

Pastor - Spiritual Director - Therpeutic Harpist

SPIRITUAL WELLNESS GUIDE