Dark, stained, broken pieces of glass

Can anything good come from dark, stained, broken pieces of glass?

Of course, we've all seen it happen.

At the Breakforth 2006 conference this past weekend, I encountered a number of stained items — things that really didn't ring quite true, attitudes that seemed not entirely Christlike, methods that seemed to assume too much or ignore the way they could really hurt some people, songs that reflected dreadfull theology, sound mixing that pierced the ears, and so forth.

It struck me in fact that all our methods, all our songs, all our thoughts, all our sermons, all our blogging, all our theologizing, all our leadership techniques, all our attempts at community, all our invitations to see Jesus are like dark, stained, broken pieces of glass, cobbled together.

Yet somehow, when God's Light shines through all that stain, His glory is displayed — magnificently.

This allows me to be much more gracious with my stained brothers and sisters. The stain, which from my perspective seems to just block the transmission, may have an important role to play when God gets finished with all He has planned.