Kintsugi Christi

Shortly after my daughter was born, my wife and I did what most new parents do; we lost a good deal of sleep. We were living in a small Northwoods town and winter was setting in, so we planned ahead and got a huge cable package. We figured that if we would be tethered to a couch at three in the morning, there’d better be something worth watching. Unsurprisingly, there wasn’t. At three in the morning, there’s nothing worth watching and after a few weeks, even reading gets difficult. So I found myself one morning watching the Home Shopping Network. Among the smart pantsuits and unbreakable knives, they were selling one item that caught my eye: Pre-broken pots.

I guess, in a world where people pay extra to have their jeans “professionally ripped,” selling a planter that has already shattered seems plausible, but I still couldn’t really understand why that would be an item worth highlighting. Their pitch was that the cracks throughout the pots created a “beautiful, unique marbling effect,” and they kept referencing the Japanese art-craft of “Kintsugi.” Now, when you’re stuck in the Northwoods with a baby who won’t sleep and the best thing on TV is a commercial for pre-broken pots, you latch on to anything that can help you kill 20 minutes, so I pulled out my phone and googled Kintsugi in the hopes that it would be an interesting way to get through the next half hour.

That’s when it got interesting.

As it turns out, Kintsugi is a method for repairing pottery that uses gold leaf mixed with a binding solution. It likely originated in the 1400s as a way to mend pieces that were deemed too valuable to discard even after they’ve been damaged. The repair creates a pattern that looks like golden marbling throughout the piece and really does leave it looking beautiful and unique. But that’s not the real significance of the art. The real significance is the value that is added to the piece. Obviously, being filled with gold adds a tangible value as does the increased beauty, but there are many levels beyond those. To begin, even a simple repair returns the pot to usefulness, allowing you to put a plant (or other things) inside. That’s value. Also, the pot now has “a story” and instantly becomes a conversation piece, giving you the chance to tell your friends about the day your cat chased a sunbeam up a bookshelf and sent it crashing to the floor. That’s value. These break points, because of the binding, are actually stronger than the rest of the pot. That is value. Perhaps the most important thing, though, is the knowledge that something that was broken cannot only be made whole again, which is value, but can actually become something even greater than you ever thought possible. It can become more beautiful, more profitable, more fortified, more perfectly imperfect, and, in the process, can prove itself to be enduring despite the chances and changes of this life.

This is where it gets really interesting.

As I learned about all the philosophical benefits of Kintsugi, my heart and mind shifted. I suddenly realized that what I was reading didn’t just describe an obscure Japanese handicraft. It described Christianity. Think about it. In Kintsugi, you have a relatively useful thing that resembles many other things that are very similar to it. Then something happens and that thing is broken, but through a deliberate process, something of great value is applied to those fractures and in the end, the thing is not just returned to what is once was, but becomes something that gained value in numerous ways. Now imagine the pot is a person. They go through life looking and acting much like so many other people who are very similar to them. Then something happens and that person is broken. That brokenness might have come from any number of things, but that person feels suddenly shattered and unable to ever be what they once were. But then, though a deliberate application of the Will and Word of God to those fractures, that person not only regains their previous value, but gains new value in so many ways.

In this Kintsugi Christi, that person becomes more beautiful, more valuable, more fortified, more perfectly imperfect, and, in the process, proves themselves to be enduring. Their scars have become their strength. They now have a keen understanding of that kind of pain and will be particularly prepared to help others through the same pain. They now have unique stories of their brokenness and their redemption that can inspire others of the possibilities open to them. Their pain has made them powerful and their brokenness has given them immeasurable value. This is Christ’s own story as it is through his wounds that he heals the world, by his death that he brings life, from his weakness that he displays his strength. But this is also our story, as we find strength in times of weakness, find new life amidst the tragedy of death, and find fuller health in the wake of illness and injury. In Christ, we sanctify our brokenness and find new value not in spite of having fallen, but because of the fall. Christ becomes our most precious metal, our prayers become the binding, and we become his most beautiful, fortified, valuable, unique, and perfectly imperfect children.

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