Kintsukuroi – beauty from broken

I learned something new today! Our church staff was invited to breakfast at the assisted living and retirement community in town. We were the honored guests as it is Pastor Appreciation Month. We enjoyed a tasty breakfast and were able to see some of our church family who are part of that retirement community.

The speaker for the morning shared about the Japanese practice of Kintsukuroi. I had never heard of it before, but loved the idea behind it. Rather than simply throw out a broken piece of pottery, the Japanese use gold or silver to repair it and find even greater beauty in the piece.

Our speaker made the connection that God is in that same business. We are all broken and flawed, yet God is able to bring beauty out of that brokenness. Sometimes the beauty is greater because of the brokenness. Instead of simply discarding a broken life, God is about restoration and allowing our cracks to reflect His glory.

3 Questions for the School Year

We kicked off another year of small groups Sunday night. I love the excitement and anticipation a new school year brings. It’s a new start and a time for groups that met last year to get back into the routine of meeting again. It’s also a time to welcome new students into small groups and help them connect with each other.

One bonus this year is that we have some new leaders in our groups. We have two of our young adult/college age guys that are helping with two groups. We also have two high school senior girls who will be co-leading a girls group.

As we begin a new season, we are striving to keep three questions out in front of our students. We want these questions to be a continual reminder to our students (and adults) that we all need to see where we need to make progress in our spiritual journey. The three questions will hopefully be a source of challenge when we need that kick-start or need to get back on track.

1) How are your growing? We want to help our students to take steps where they are growing on their own, outside of the church or small group environment. Are they reading the Bible on their own and spending time in prayer?

2) Where are your serving? Our desire is for our students to be an active part of our church family, not just showing up and being present, but serving in some area of ministry.

3) Who are you reaching? Everyone has influence on someone else. We want to encourage our students to use their influence in the lives of others to point them to Jesus.

The school year is underway and we don’t know what the coming months may bring. We can strive to grow, serve and reach. Here’s to a great school year!