“Anthem” is a 1992 song by Leonard Cohen which begins,
“The birds they
sing at the break of day; start again - I heard them say.
Don’t dwell on what has passed away or what is yet to be”
And then, in the
chorus,
“Ring the bells
that still can ring, forget your perfect offering.
There is a crack, a crack in everything, that’s how the light gets in.”
Many of us have
lived with the understanding that cracks are not allowed in our lives, that we
had to be perfect and ever-improving, and never weak, vulnerable or broken -
not if we had any chance or measuring up to our peers, our selves, even to God. The message may have been received from a
parent, a teacher, a coach, a boss, a spouse, or the insistence of perfection
may be more of a self-imposed sentence.
The thought that
imperfections are embarrassing and to be hidden, gets in the way of a full
relationship with those we love and, indeed, a full connection with our
gracious and loving God. It’s a notion that needs to be countered. Leonard
Cohen’s words, following Jesus’ words about the birds of the air and the lilies
of the field, correctly proclaim that each day is a fresh gift, so do not dwell
on the past or fret about the future. And the chorus of his song, following the
Japanese tradition of Kintsugi, importantly declares that the imperfections,
the cracks, are essential to being fully human, for the crack is how the light
gets in.
As you heard in
today’s Interim Ministry Moment, the 2025 annual meeting of the Pacific
Mountain Region took place just over a month ago in Nanaimo, and its theme was
“Cracked Open.” Onscreen you will see the logo that was in front of us
throughout the gathering, and when I first saw that logo I immediately thought of
Leonard Cohen’s profoundly helpful words about the crack in something being how
the light gets in. But notice, that in
this logo the energetic direction is outward, not inward. The view isn’t from inside, as the light of
God’s wisdom shines on us, the view is from the outside, as this jar is
breaking into pieces. Leonard Cohen’s
words remain helpful, but there’s something more going on here.
In Nanaimo, we
kept coming back to this image and metaphor, of being “cracked open”. This morning you heard the scriptural basis,
from the 14th chapter of Mark’s gospel, a scene from the final days
of Jesus’ life: “While Jesus was eating,
a woman came in with an alabaster jar full of a very expensive perfume made of
pure nard. She broke the jar and poured the perfume on Jesus' head”. And while
some of the witnesses to this were upset by this act of anointing, Jesus
countered them, saying “Leave her alone! Why are you bothering her? She has
done a fine and beautiful thing for me” and the clincher: “wherever the gospel
is preached all over the world, what she has done will be told in memory of
her.”
Somehow, in my
reading of this scripture over the years, almost always in Holy Week services,
I have pictured the ointment being poured from a jar which had a lid or stopper:
remove the stopper, pour out the perfume/ointment, return the stopper. But that’s not what happens here. Here, we have a jar containing a substance so
precious and so vulnerable once exposed to the elements, that it needs to be in
a sealed, single-use container. So in
order to anoint Jesus, the woman has to crack the jar open, as one would break
open an ampoule containing a single dose of medication. The jar, then, is only important because of its
fragrant, passionate contents.
The Rev. Canon Dr.
Stephanie Spellers, our guest speaker in Nanaimo, wrote a book entitled, The
Church Cracked Open: Disruption, Decline and New Hope for Beloved Community
was our guest speaker for the weekend. She is one of the Episcopal Church’s
leading thinkers around 21st-century ministry and mission, and is a clear,
energetic presenter who has a great respect for the United Church of Canada,
and the religious context of British Columbia.
And a quick note: in this sermon, my recounting of Stephanie’s presentation
to us in Nanaimo is intermingled with my interpretation of it, so I hope and
pray that nothing I say here misrepresents her line of thought.
Stephanie asserts,
correctly, that things are broken. Racism is out of control, most pointedly in her
nation, the US, but a problem everywhere. control; the planet is basically on
fire due to climate change; and the Church of the northern hemisphere, as she
put it is “deep in the valley of dry bones”.
When things are
falling apart, what are we to do, as Church, as the Body of Christ? As people of faith, one of our starting points
is to turn to scripture, seek wisdom in our faith history to help us address
this mess. When Stephanie turned to
scripture, she found what she terms “a bold sister with an alabaster jar” and as
the Church, Stephanie implores us to understand that “we have this jar, we ARE
this jar” and that we while we have protected the container, its importance is
that it contains “precious oil.” This
observation lands hard with me, for I know that over decades of ministry too
much time and energy has been on preserving and protecting the container, the
Church itself and all the things we do to keep it alive, and not enough time
freeing the Holy Spirit to do what she will.
If we pause, and
honestly assess the situation in 2025, we know that a broken world needs every
bit of Christ’s holy, human, transformative love. We need to let ourselves
crack wide open so that love can do its work, unrestrained, using every
resource we have at our disposal. For Jesus calls us to be all-in, in our
“selfless…commitment to the other’s flourishing and the flourishing of the
whole world. I will be as invested in
your flourishing as I am in my own.”
All this, yes,
calls for courage and risk, for in that act of breaking open our priorities and
processes as Church, the way we use the influence we do have, it is unlikely we
could reassemble the pieces in a way that would resemble the way things were
before. But to be honest: what is there
to lose? The numbers for mainline
Churches, across the northern hemisphere, are not good, and holding on to what
is, is getting us nowhere. The number of people identifying as “nones” (those
who never have had a religious affiliation) and “dones” (who were once Church
involved, but have withdrawn from Church life) is growing rapidly, especially
in Canada. In 1971, only 4% claimed to
have no religion, but by 2001 that was up to 17% and then by 2021, 35%. This is even more pronounced in BC where a
full 50% of the population has no religious affiliation.
Stephanie reminded
us that in the Christological hymn of Philippians 2: 4-9, Jesus “humbled
himself” – he stepped away from his Divine privilege in order to become human
and serve others. As his ongoing body in the world we must have that same orientation
to service, that same humility. In a
world that loves and promotes self-centeredness as a religion unto itself, we
are called to counter that self-centrism with the powerful love of Jesus. In
Christ and with Christ we strive, for abundant life enjoyed by all
humanity. Adopting this goal – abundant
life for ALL – is one way to challenge narratives of decline and despair. For if we place our hope and our efforts, not
in rebuilding something that looks just like what we had before, i.e. reassembling
the cracked alabaster jar, we can form just, beloved communities that Jesus
would recognize as his own.
In the manner that
the unnamed woman – unnamed yet remember for eternity – cracked open the jar
and released the fragrance of divine love, we must be willing to crack open all
that we have understood about Church life.
We must meet the current situation with fidelity and courage, for the
work can be disheartening and at times heartbreaking. The power of Empire, the
power of self-centrism, is strong and getting stronger. Yet to allow ourselves
as the Body of Christ to crack open, has the promise of Christ’s love at work
in the world, and when I imagine that my heart soars.
The call to
beloved community, open and vulnerable, is a beautiful calling indeed. As
Stephanie Spellers stated in her final address to us, “what a time to be the
Church. What a time to be a
Christian.” May blessings be upon her
ministry, and ours. Amen.
References:
Cohen, Leonard.
“Anthem” © 1992, Stranger Music Inc. accessed at https://genius.com/Leonard-cohen-anthem-lyrics
Dewmartin, Kate.
“Cracks are how the light gets in – Kintsugi and grief.” https://www.craftcourses.com/blog/cracks-are-how-the-light-gets-in-kintsugi-grief
Pacific Mountain
Regional Council, 2025 Regional Gathering/AGM. https://pacificmountain.ca/administration/regional-general-meetings/pmrc-agm-2025/
Spellers,
Stephanie. https://churchcrackedopen.com/
© 2025 Rev Greg
Wooley, Osoyoos-Oliver United Church Pastoral Charge…with a huge shout-out to
Rev Canon Dr Stephanie Spellers!
