The Hurt And The Healing

This evening I have been to watch a contemporary dance performance which considered the themes of loss and reconstruction following loss.

 

It was a fascinating portrayal of how loneliness can feel and how other people are essential in carrying us through times of bereavement and in helping us to restructure our lives.

 

There were six dancers in the piece and each one of them, at one point in the performance, was the 'odd one out' - the one by themselves.  The one dancing alone.  The one who was experiencing loss of some kind.

 

They each had a moment of dancing solo.

 

But then the other five would come and gather around them and physically support and strengthen them.  They would dance alongside them and lift and carry them.

 

It was a beautiful image.

 

And it was another wonderful picture of what God imagines the church to be like.

 

Paul writes,

 

"The way God designed our bodies is a model for understanding our lives together as a church: every part dependent on every other part, the parts we mention and the parts we don’t, the parts we see and the parts we don’t.  If one part hurts, every other part is involved in the hurt, and in the healing.  If one part flourishes, every other part enters into the exuberance."

 

[1 Corinthians 12:25-26 MSG]

 

I love that line: every other part is involved in the hurt, and in the healing. 

 

In the same way that the dancers in tonight's performance were all involved in each other's hurt and healing, this is what God envisions and longs for in His church.

 

 

 

 

Painkillers

Yesterday, I wrote about how my left shoulder had seized up.  Today, it has been much looser and I can turn my head without turning my whole body.  But it is still stiff and sore. 

 

A lot of the pain has been eased as a result of some very strong painkillers, for which I am very grateful.

 

They have dulled the pain to a mild tenderness and inconvenience, rather than a throbbing and nauseating ache.

 

However, whilst the painkillers have dulled the pain, and things seem to be getting better, painkillers can be deceptive.  We can think that we're healed and recovered, but they really only mask the pain.  Sometimes we can be tempted to try using those muscles again - lifting heavy objects, exercising again, etc. - because they feel as though they are healed.  But when we do this, we can end up causing ourselves more pain and greater injury because we're not really healed.

 

Painkillers numb the pain, but they don't really get to the heart of things.

 

In life, we can sometimes take emotional or spiritual painkillers, too.  We can find ways of dulling the pain and hiding the ache, so that we don't have to endure it. 

 

it is always easier to take painkillers and to mask the pain, rather than to expose it and endure it, in order to heal it.

 

But things can't heal properly unless we expose them and acknowledge our need for healing. 

 

And when we do, God promises to step in and to heal our hurting hearts:

"If your heart is broken, you’ll find God right there."

[Psalm 34:18 MSG]

and

 

         "He heals the brokenhearted
         and binds up their wounds."

 

         [Psalm 147:3 NIV]

 

But in order for our wounds to be healed, we need to stop taking the painkillers that numb the pain and acknowledge it instead.

 

These are the words of the chorus from 'Healing Begins' by Tenth Avenue North -

 

       "This is where the healing begins

       This is where the healing starts

       When you come to where you're broken inside

       The light meets dark."

 

 

 

When Life Hurts

As R.E.M sang, "Everybody cries and everybody hurts sometimes."

We live in an imperfect world with imperfect people who make imperfect choices.  And the result is that we get hurt.

Pain, in this life, is unavoidable.

Pain is a sign that there is something wrong: it points to the fact that things are not as they should be.  Pain prompts us to put things right.

It shouldn't be ignored.

As Taylor says in Gilmore Girls,

"Pain is your body's way of saying 'I'm not alright now, but I will be soon.  You've got to listen to your body.  You don't want to shut it up too soon ... that's called death.'"

We can ignore pain, we can dull the ache with pills and medicines, we can distract ourselves and bury the hurt.  But it never really goes away.

In order to heal, we need to let the wounds breathe.  We need to bring them out into the open and bring them before God.

"If your heart is broken,
You'll find God right there;
if you're kicked in the gut,
He'll help you catch your breath."

[Psalm 34:18 MSG]

"He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds."

[Psalm 147:3 NIV]

These are some of the words from 'The Hurt and The Healer" by MercyMe (full lyrics at
http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/mercyme/thehurtthehealer.html) 

"You take my heart and breathe it back to life
I’ve fallen into Your arms open wide
When the hurt and the healer collide."

Whilst being hurt may be unavoidable, staying hurt isn't.