"For the Hurt, the Blessed, and the Damned" has Arrived!

My book is here! I wrote “For the Hurt, the Blessed, and the Damned” to be a source of healing, and I hope it will be for you. You can order it on BarnesAndNoble.com and Amazon.com.

“For the Hurt, the Blessed, and the Damned” offers healing, connection, belonging, and love through a loving God who becomes human, joining with humanity in our brokenness, to reconcile us to God and each other.

Far from the “believe in Jesus or go to Hell” of much modern Christianity, we find through scripture, our daily lives, and Jesus’ life of healing, that Christianity is a religion of healing, connection, belonging, and love. Knowing that we need healing, God joins in every aspect of our humanity, even the various hells in which we find ourselves. Whether hurting, blessed, or damned, Jesus joins in all aspects of our lives so that anywhere we are, God is there for healing, connection, belonging, and love.

Repairers of the Breach

The Rev. Brad Sullivan
Lord of the Streets Episcopal Church
February 5, 2023
5th Sunday After Epiphany
Isaiah 58:1-12
Matthew 5:13-20

Repairers of the Breach

You will be called repairers of the breach. That’s what Isaiah told Israel, if they would follow in the ways of justice and mercy, then they would be called repairers of the breach. Now, when I hear repairer of the breach, my mind goes to sci-fi and fantasy where the castle wall is breached or the hull of the ship is breached, and the enemy comes pouring in. They gotta work at getting rid of the enemy then, and they also gotta repair the breach so more of the enemy don’t keep coming in.

For Israel, that the enemy coming in was largely their own behavior. “You oppress your workers,” Isaiah said, “you fight and strike with a wicked fist.” Israel was bringing all of this hurt, anger, fear, and shame onto itself because of how the people were treating one another. What was the remedy, Isaiah said? “Loose the bonds of injustice, let the oppressed go free, share your bread with the hungry, bring the homeless poor into your house, when you see the naked, cover them, and do not hide yourself from your own kin.”

Kindness, mercy, compassion, love. That is how Israel was to be repairers of the breach, and kindness, mercy, compassion, and love is how we get to be repairers of the breach.

When Jesus talked to his disciples in Matthew 5, he commanded them to let their light shine. He commands us to let our light shine, and the light is the light of God dwelling within each of us. The light Jesus talked about is a part of us. Kindness, mercy, compassion, love; these are the light of God within us. Notice that Jesus didn’t say “create the light” or “kindle the light”. He said, “let it shine.” The light is already there. God’s light dwelling within each of us, part of us. Let the light of kindness, mercy, compassion, and love shine. Let the goodness and beauty of your innermost-self shine.

Jesus told us this because with our light shining, we get to be repairers of the breach. 

There are quite a few breaches in our lives, aren’t there? There are big breaches (nations, unjust systems, etc.) and there is only so much any one of us can do about those. When we have influence, we get to use it to help repair those breaches. 

Many of us don’t have that kind of influence, however, so tend to get angry and resentful at those injustices and breaches. In our anger, we want to strike with a wicked fist. Our anger and resentment end up covering the light within us, and we can no longer repair the breach, because in our anger, we’ve become part of the breach. 

“If the salt has lost its saltiness,” Jesus said, “then it’s no longer good for anything.” Ok, so chemically, salt really can’t really lose its saltiness, but salt can be mixed with other things. Other junk and crud that ruins the salt and makes it no longer any good. That’s what happens to us when our anger and resentment block out the light. Our salt loses its saltiness. 

Now, why do anger and resentment ruin our salt, block the light? Why do anger and resentment block the beauty and goodness of who we are? Because we get hurt and afraid. Jesus knows this. He’s been human with us; he knows our hurt and our fear, and in our Gospel reading today, Jesus is saying, “be healed of your hurt and fear. Let go of anger and resentment over the injustices and breaches in the world which you can’t repair. Be healed; trust the goodness and beauty of who you are, and then work to repair the breaches which you can repair. 

With our saltiness restored and our light shining forth, we get to be repairers of the breach. Letting go of our anger and resentment, letting Jesus heal our hurt and fear, we get to live the kindness, mercy, compassion, and love that is our truest self. We get to heal others as we are healed with that same kindness, mercy, compassion, and love. Then that healing gets to spread.

We know that our society and our community has lost its saltiness. The light of goodness is blocked out by hurt, fear, anger, and resentment. As repairers of the breach, sharing the light of kindness, mercy, compassion, and love, we find that light spreads. Sharing the light of kindness, mercy, compassion, and love, we find the saltiness of our society restored. Bit by bit, person by person, heart by heart, we are healed, we share that healing, and the breaches in our walls are repaired. The hurts of our society are soothed. We find the world a safer and more loving place in which to live.