This is the President’s (Owain Llŷr Evans’) reflection for this year’s Pentecost, focusing on the words of the chorus ‘Spirit of the Living God'.
Spirit of the living God, fall afresh on me
Break me, melt me, mould me, fill me;
Spirit of the living God, fall afresh on me.
Spirit of the living God, fall afresh on me … and notice … Break me.
I much prefer the Welsh translation. The longing for God to break me is difficult for me to accept. I cannot imagine God breaking someone deliberately. I know that God restores what has been broken … I know that God uses what has been broken as channels of blessing. But God breaking someone … I find that hard to believe.
Jesus was broken – He was broken on the cross. Standing at the foot of the cross we see that there is nothing spiritual or glorious about a person’s body being broken and crushed. No one wishes to be broken.
But being broken is a very real experience for people – and many of us know all too well what it is to be broken. We have also seen healing, growth and blessing come into our experience because of that breaking. Blessing sometimes comes in the wake of being broken, but being broken is always a curse. It is not a purpose but a means. Jesus was broken on the cross not for the sake of being broken. He died, not for the sake of dying. The bread was broken, yes, in order to be shared, and in its sharing it becomes a channel of blessing, peace and comfort. Jesus died in order to live – so that we might understand what true living is, and so that the secret of living real life might be placed in the palm of our hand …
When I feel the trace of your hand on the scars of my life,
a song wells up beneath my breast:
I love you, Lord.
