‘Keep watch’, he says, but weighted lids pull me down into the dark, deaf waters of sleep and I drift – yielding consciousness… Then strain to resurface again to what’s unfolding.
He kneels, a stone’s-throw close, his pleading just perceptible. Yet he is far-off: unreachable in his anguish.
As I sink back into the swaddle of sleep I sense betrayal close. Then voices and torchlight yank me to the surface – suddenly alert.
Now, he is calm – resolved: a still centre in the uproar.
Fear’s chill seeps into me – for he foretold denial: will I have the courage to stay true?
We come as broken shards to be pieced together – our sharp edges, patiently softened and held by the glowing flux which traces what has gone before, transforming regret into strength and beauty.
Not mending but creating anew…
[Piers Northam]
Kintsugi is the ancient Japanese art of repairing broken pottery with seams of gold. When the brokenness is repaired, the object becomes more beautiful and unique than it was before. Instead of hiding the scars, it makes a feature of them. The word Kintsugi means Gold (Kint) and to Mend (Sugi)
One of the leading artists promoting and teaching Kintsugi is Makoto Fijimura. He gives his insight into the meaning of Kintsugi in a video he recorded as part of his programme known as Culture Care Creative, of which he is the founder.
In seeking to mend what is broken, this is the opposite to our prevailing disposable culture. Instead of throwing away and buying new, it is about valuing what you have. Makoto describes the mending not as ‘fixing’ but as a redemptive journey which leads to a new creation. He tells of the aftermath of an earthquake in Japan. Homes were destroyed but the concern of many was to mend their bowls. Bowls were all that was left the mending became a ‘safe zone’ which has the power to heal people. In the mending you stand between repairing and creating. The imperfect becomes a symbol of the beauty of broken things.
We live with trauma, he says, and we are looking for healing in the midst of all that.Never more true than in our own times of conflict and destructive brokeness.
There is a physical process but it belies a kind of spiritual meaning. At a popular level, the British TV Programme, Repair Shop´ in which people bring favourite broken objects which are steeped in memory, involves a kind of Kintsugi. The Team restore and renew what is presented to them because they are skilled in particular crafts. However, it is a work of love which is fed by the stories behind the damaged objects. Old memories are reshaped and recreated into a new ones. Often we can be moved to tears, and certainly the ones seeking repairs are, because this is the real renewal.
In Kingsugi, the bowl or object seems just like a broken bowl but the cracks are filled with gold – what Makoto calls a gold river running through it. Makoto emphasises healing and he draws from that a Gospel message.
Christ, he says, came not just to fix us but to restore us to create something new, which is more valuable than what we began with.
Redemption is re-making us in the image of Christ and the result of that is the river of Gold that reconnects us is God Himself holding us.
Held in the lamplight glow of another’s attention time slows… space for a shared unfolding: the creases, rucks and pleats of story and experience, passion and sorrow carefully laid open.
In the cradle of this shared moment we are free to wander and explore: huddled close as we walk in step; or running free after fresh vistas; or simply sitting in easy company – pondering together and drinking in the view.
Scudding brightness pinpricks details to be pointed at and revelled in. Notions, like skylarks, twist and turn; cloud-pictures drifting and shifting, to crystallize when they are named.
And afterwards, the joy of sacrament: the recognition of new knowings… and the sense that we have been seen and heard and cherished – and that together, we have grown.
Piers Northam 14 January 2022 (with thanks to Ros, Susan, Julia, Lynn and Marion)
This photo of a Kite soaring high in the sky over Norfolk was sent to me by my friend, Lynn Hurry.
It’s majestic and breathtaking in a seemingly effortless pose as it rides on the wind. Sheer freedom. Lynn adds this comment:
The Kite resembles our hope and desire to be caught by God’s love and lifted to heights unimaginable.
Quite an exciting January thought when so often our spirits are dampened by the darkness and by the cold. Here’s a prayer reflection from Piers
God our Creator, As the kite rides the thermals soaring high above us, eyes scanning the vast majesty of creation, So, by the breath of your Spirit lift us high to soar heavenward, our vision wide and expansive with fresh perspectives. Help the eyes of our souls to pierce through the shrouding mists and troubles of this world and there see hope and goodness, and, as the kite stretches wings to catch the rising warmth, so help us to stretch our arms wide with the uplift of your love. Amen.
Mr G's Ponderings 