Broken, Gathered-Up

In Christ, God has taken upon himself the broken nature of his creation;
being broken - physically, emotionally, mentally, spiritually - on an urban rubbish-dump...

In Christ, God has taken upon himself the discarded nature of his creation;
being discarded by humanity and forsaken by divinity, on an urban rubbish-dump...

In Christ, broken-ness is swallowed-up by Life;
soaked-up like wine mixed with myrrh is soaked-up by a sponge...

In Christ, that which has been discarded is gathered-up by Love;
re-fashioned into a thing of beauty, and given away...

In Christ, the broken and discarded - people, places, things - of this world are re-cycled, re-created, re-branded: Worth It;
are restored - given a place of high honour, over that which proclaimed its wholeness and place of central position...

And us, made in the image of a Creating God, in the likeness of a Redeeming God, and made-alive by the Breath of God? Let us be found on the edge, outside the city walls that delineate visible society; and let us be found playing in the dirt, from which we were made, and to which we shall return...


[Before Philadelphia became the city campus for St Thomas' it was an electrical engineering works. The previous owners moved to other premises, leaving behind discarded pieces of metal, of various shapes and sizes. Very early on, someone took some copper wire and fashioned it into a loose globe; took nails, bound together by electrical wire, and fashioned a cross; and brought the two together in a piece of art that was placed in the Chapel.]