Engaging Brokenness Training (EBT)

2012 MCO Winter ConferenceB.Pearson, PhD cand.

Engaging Brokenness

Training (EBT)

OVERVIEW

Colossians 1:1-14. Learning objective #1: Explore a paradigm for healing in Jesus’ nameColossians 1:15-22. Learning objective #2: Understand the power of the gospel to engage

brokennessColossians 1:22-29. Learning objective #3: Realize that as followers of Jesus we engage

brokenness, so that every person may be completeColossians 2:1-23. Learning objective #4: Develop a primary prevention strategy that deals with

sources of sustained brokennessColossians 3:1-4:6. Learning objective #5: Understand that the gospel empowers us to “make

things new”Colossians 4:7-18. Learning objective #6: Adopt God’s implementation plan to engage

brokenness

Engaging Brokenness Training (EBT)

Colossians 1:1-14Learning objective #1: explore a paradigm for healing in Jesus’ name

The Dichotomy (T or F?)

*Not to scale

Do people need healing or saving?

What is broken that needs healing?

What is broken that needs saving?

Shadowing Jesus: Matthew 9•Paralytic: sins forgiven and paralysis healed •Matthew, the tax gatherer: reconciled to his neighbors•Disciples of John: experienced a paradigm shift away from dead religion•Young girl: raised from the dead and restored to her family•Old woman: healed of a disease and restored with dignity•Blind: made to see•Aphasic: delivered from an evil spirit

“Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick” (Hosea 6)

Insignia of Free Women’s Hospital of Boston, now part of Brigham and Womens Hospital

(Harvard Medical School)

Key Question

• If gospel of Jesus is bearing fruit and growing in the whole world (Col. 1:6)

• Then, is this true in our contemporary context?

• If not, why not? Either the gospel is not:– Powerful enough– Relevant to our context– Accessible

Cursory Test: Colossians 1:7-14

Accessible: the gospel, like health care, is delivered through human agency (i.e. it’s not “magic”)

Relevant: the gospel produces fruit that addresses brokenness

Powerful: The gospel of Jesus places us in a new domain, furnishes redemption (forgiveness of sins).

Kingdom of Jesus

• Focus: God’s glory• Goal: wholeness• Basis: gospel of kingdom• Trajectory: redemption

Does this paradigm matter?-How would this change the way we do health care?-How would this change the way we do church?-Does the health care system or the church in its current form engage the brokenness of our world?

Domain of Darkness:Sustained Brokenness

Engaging Brokenness Training (EBT)

Colossians 1:15-22Learning objective #2: Understand the power of the gospel to engage brokenness

Jesus the Healer

Healers are a resource for healing. They help make people whole.– Jesus defines wholeness (1:15-20)– Jesus restores wholeness (1:21-22)

Jesus Defines WholenessColossians 1:15-20

• Incomplete, injured • Fragmented, stressed

• Violated, sullied

• Incomplete, stunted • Inadequate, uncertain

• Alienated, hostile

Whole, fullIntegrated, centeredHonored, valuedProductive, creativeSecure, hopefulReconciled, peaceful

Jesus Restores Wholeness Colossians 1:21-22

• What is the disposition of Jesus towards brokenness?

• How did He engage brokenness? • What is the “underlying mechanism” of this

therapeutic strategy?

Numbers 21:4-9, John 3:14-15, 12:31-33

Engaging Brokenness Training (EBT)

Colossians 1:22-29Learning objective #3: Realize that as followers of Jesus we engage brokenness, so that every person may be complete

WARNING LABEL:Colossians 1:23-29

•How does the gospel engage our own brokenness engaged from day to day?

•How do we engage the brokenness of others? (2 Corinthians 1:3-7)

•What is wholeness?

Summary• The gospel is a powerful, relevant and accessible

paradigm to engage brokenness of the world• Jesus is the source of the power:– He defines wholeness absolutely– He became a unique source of healing by engaging

the human condition• As his follows, we make the gospel accessible. We

partner with Jesus by absorbing brokenness and his healing to pour through our wounds.

Review: Discussion Questions• What does it mean to be broken? What sources of

brokenness are inferred in Colossians 1:1-14?• What is health according to the gospel?

(Did Jesus live a healthy lifestyle?)• Is healing a process or an event? (How do we

reconcile the gospel accounts of healing and the words of Paul in contemporary health care?)