Brokeness and Healing

As we prepare for or get involved in ministry, we face much brokeness - in others and within ourselves. If we choose to look beyond the surface, I think that we would be able to see that quite a few people carry baggages. They are broken people. While it is true that Christ brings healing, I think that many of us forget that the healing is at many times a process.

I guess that as I question about the topic of forgiveness, I am contemplating on the topic of brokeness and healing as the two go together. Perhaps it is because of the people that I meet or talk about in the last couple of days. I think it's scary to think of how many people in the body of Christ go about doing ministry and not work out their own brokeness. Just think of the impact that they will have in their church.

I'm not saying that they shouldn't be broken - I think that there are benefits to being broken. One of which is that those who are ministered to may be able to identify better with those who are broken. On the other hand, I am coming to the conclusion that those who are ministering and are broken have to go through the process of healing first. I agree with one of my friends who recenly said - without healing, those who are hurt will hurt those who are already hurting as they minister.

Some time ago, I wrote this post on 'The cry of a seminarian' as my fellow friends and I wrestle with our expectations as we journey through life in the seminary. After further thought, I would like also to add that that the element of dealing with brokeness and healing should be a vital part of life in seminary. I am not saying that the onus should purely be on the lecturer(though I always think that they have a great role to play as they are examples of what we are to be when we go into ministry). I think that the students have their part to play too- we have to first choose to see our problems and our brokeness. Then we have to choose to allow ourselves to go through the painful process of healing. I think that this is a big necessity as we journey through life in the seminary. The more we ignore the fact that we have a problem, the greater the problem potentially gets.

A few friends and I have been recently quite shocked when we learnt about a person who just could not see their own faults and choosing to put the blame on everyone else. The extent of the blindness of the person to their own fault is rather shocking. Maybe this person has been hurt in the past and have not dealt with it. It seems that this person has chosen to deal with it by blaming others and thinking themselves totally blameless. I am not judging this person - though this person has brought a lot of grief to one of my close friend. All I am saying is that, if we ourselves do not deal with our own brokeness, we too will end up like this person. We become so blind to our own faults and instead of dealing with it, we begin to blame others and do not realise how much we hurt others from our own hurts.

Through all of this, I am saying that it is essential for those in the seminary and those preparing for ministry to examine the brokeness in our lives and go through healing before we go out there. As one of my pastor once reminded me many years ago - "Doing ministry is not a joke. It is a serious matter as we deal with souls everyday."