mark tidsworth

When what was more good than not, becomes more not than good

When the underside of our kind becomes the upperside

When what was hidden in the dark is disclosed by the light

When leaders disappoint so often our trust-ability may never fully recover

When we recognize our faith traditions are unintentionally complicit with systemic brokenness

When we recognize it’s more about maintaining power and position than living the principles

When our best collective expression of what is good is consumed by our worst expression of ourselves

When our disappointment with the Church tempts us to harbor resentment or become a Done

When we recognize that even what we thought is good in this world is tainted by evil

When we can no longer deny that we are part of this mess

Then we start

Then we start to recognize the Christ

Then we start to recognize the Christ who stretched out his arms, vulnerable to injury

Then we start to recognize the Christ who allowed his heart to be pierced with the pain of his children’s collective lust for evil

Then we start to recognize the Christ who absorbed the brokenness, and pain, and evil into his very self

Then we start to recognize the Christ who shed tears over Jerusalem, over the brokenness of his human offspring

Then we start to recognize the Christ who showed us the way

For it is in embracing the brokenness, in listening to the despairing, in moving into the mess of humanity

For it is in following the Christ into the pain, suffering, and illness of our world that we find our way

That we find our way

When we recognize the Christ, we find our way