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Kintsugi |
The guy we were talking to noted, “There’s an Asian culture where they actually fix broken pottery with gold, and it makes the piece of pottery more valuable … I don’t remember if it was Japanese or Chinese …” Working in a ministry that focuses on God’s healing in the lives of broken people, the idea was incredibly intriguing.
My friend and I moved away from the conversation, but my mind continued to ruminate on that idea. So, I did a little research and found the blog of a potter in Indiana. He had traveled to Japan to participate in several exhibitions and had an interesting experience:
My friend and I moved away from the conversation, but my mind continued to ruminate on that idea. So, I did a little research and found the blog of a potter in Indiana. He had traveled to Japan to participate in several exhibitions and had an interesting experience:
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I arrived with gifts for all the many people that were required to make this amazing opportunity a reality for me. After I arrived and was unpacking, I discovered that 4 of the [ceramic] cups that I’d brought as gifts had been broken by the baggage-handling process. Without a thought, I dumped them into the waste basket in my room. Sometime later that week, someone came to my room and took out the trash.
After a remarkable 6 weeks in Japan, two exhibitions, travel, fine food, new friends … my visit came to an end. As often happens there were some “parting gifts” given by me to my hosts; and some gifts were given to me by my hosts. Among the parting gifts I received, I discovered the 4 cups … but they were all reassembled and mended with silver. I was rather astonished, as I’d thought that putting them in the waste basket was the last I’d ever see of them. [My host] laughed as he noticed my incredulity, and said, “Now, even better than when you brought them!” Remarkable: gifting back to me, the cups I’d brought as gifts … only now more valuable than they originally were. |
Kintsugi
“Kintsugi” (literally “golden joinery”) or “kintsukuroi” (literally “golden repair”) is Japanese and refers to the art of fixing broken ceramics with lacquer resin made to look like solid gold. The story of Kintsugi may have begun in the late fifteenth century, when the shogun Ashikaga Yoshimasa sent a damaged Chinese tea bowl back to China to be fixed. It returned, held together with ugly metal staples, launching Japanese craftsmen on a quest for a new form of repair that could make a broken piece look as good as new, or better. Japanese collectors developed such a taste for kintsugi that some were accused of deliberately breaking prized ceramics, just to have them mended in gold.
One author writes, “Chances are, a vessel fixed by kintsugi will look more gorgeous, and more precious, than before it was fractured. Some contend that many Japanese have come to cherish the imperfection of a broken pot repaired in this way … seeing it as a creative addition and/or re-birth to the pot’s life story. Others say that when something has suffered damage and has a history, it becomes more beautiful” (Curtis Benzele).
What an incredible idea! A broken/damaged item becomes more beautiful and precious after it has been repaired than it did before it fractured.
“Kintsugi” (literally “golden joinery”) or “kintsukuroi” (literally “golden repair”) is Japanese and refers to the art of fixing broken ceramics with lacquer resin made to look like solid gold. The story of Kintsugi may have begun in the late fifteenth century, when the shogun Ashikaga Yoshimasa sent a damaged Chinese tea bowl back to China to be fixed. It returned, held together with ugly metal staples, launching Japanese craftsmen on a quest for a new form of repair that could make a broken piece look as good as new, or better. Japanese collectors developed such a taste for kintsugi that some were accused of deliberately breaking prized ceramics, just to have them mended in gold.
One author writes, “Chances are, a vessel fixed by kintsugi will look more gorgeous, and more precious, than before it was fractured. Some contend that many Japanese have come to cherish the imperfection of a broken pot repaired in this way … seeing it as a creative addition and/or re-birth to the pot’s life story. Others say that when something has suffered damage and has a history, it becomes more beautiful” (Curtis Benzele).
What an incredible idea! A broken/damaged item becomes more beautiful and precious after it has been repaired than it did before it fractured.
Suffering Brings Life
This same idea of beauty in something broken then repaired is described by the Apostle Paul as “light from darkness” when he writes to the Corinthians:
For God, who said, “Let there be light in the darkness,” has made this light shine in our hearts so we could know the glory of God that is seen in the face of Jesus Christ. We now have this light shining in our hearts, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure. This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves. We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed. We are perplexed, but not driven to despair. We are hunted down, but never abandoned by God. We get knocked down, but we are not destroyed. Through suffering, our bodies continue to share in the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also be seen in our bodies.
II Corinthians 4:6-10
God shines the transforming light of the gospel into our hearts so that we can know the glory of God, and so we can reflect it to others. The fact that we are broken jars makes it clear that what shines from us is not because of us but because of God in us.
The Master Craftsman
As we prepare for another year of ministering to those who are hurting, broken, and in need of hope, our only strategy is to point people to the Master Craftsman. He is the one who “makes everything beautiful in its time” (Ecclesiastes 3:10) and is the one who begins the work in us and continues it to completion (Philippians 1:6; Hebrews 12:2).
Kintsugi is a beautiful reminder of the work God does in us, and I feel blessed to see his work in the lives of so many, making them more beautiful.
Information about Kintsugi taken from Dick Lehman (dicklehman.wordpress.com)
This same idea of beauty in something broken then repaired is described by the Apostle Paul as “light from darkness” when he writes to the Corinthians:
For God, who said, “Let there be light in the darkness,” has made this light shine in our hearts so we could know the glory of God that is seen in the face of Jesus Christ. We now have this light shining in our hearts, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure. This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves. We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed. We are perplexed, but not driven to despair. We are hunted down, but never abandoned by God. We get knocked down, but we are not destroyed. Through suffering, our bodies continue to share in the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also be seen in our bodies.
II Corinthians 4:6-10
God shines the transforming light of the gospel into our hearts so that we can know the glory of God, and so we can reflect it to others. The fact that we are broken jars makes it clear that what shines from us is not because of us but because of God in us.
The Master Craftsman
As we prepare for another year of ministering to those who are hurting, broken, and in need of hope, our only strategy is to point people to the Master Craftsman. He is the one who “makes everything beautiful in its time” (Ecclesiastes 3:10) and is the one who begins the work in us and continues it to completion (Philippians 1:6; Hebrews 12:2).
Kintsugi is a beautiful reminder of the work God does in us, and I feel blessed to see his work in the lives of so many, making them more beautiful.
Information about Kintsugi taken from Dick Lehman (dicklehman.wordpress.com)
