Tat may have worked in the past, and it appears to still be


working in some places around the world. But it isn’t a long-term strategy. We are reaching the point where we would do well to address our failures, starting with this incontestable fact: to say that Jesus is returning “soon” no longer makes sense today, 2,000 years aſter Jesus said it and nearly 200 years since William Miller revived it. Some Adventist leader needs to say all of that aloud and


suggest how we can employ the shards of that notion, because they are, inescapably, the material we will build our future upon.


Ideal Lives Oswald Chambers writes, “We are apt to imagine that if Jesus Christ constrains us, and we obey Him, He will lead us to great success.” Tis is a particular temptation for Adventists, because we have


so many counsels and such a distinctive and insular culture. We have a tendency to think that if we follow all of the teachings as perfectly as possible—oſten including fringe ones from Ellen White—then life will be idyllic and beautiful. In fact, I have seen Adventist parents, in an effort to preserve


the faith in their families, “bubble wrap” their children by isolating them from the world. Some pastors do the same thing in their churches; they assure members that the truths of the church are perfect and protective and, thereby, discourage interaction with other Christians. Teir goal is to produce “perfectly Seventh-day Adventist” people. However, overprotection of children (or church members) does not guarantee that they will be healthy, happy, well-adjusted, and successful. Life on Earth doesn’t work that way. All of us are broken. Even those of us who are not smashed to smithereens are not completely whole, either. Tink of a FedEx package that you find on your doorstep with


one corner visibly crushed. As you shake the box, you realize that some pieces are rattling around inside. Like that FedEx item, all of us rattle when we’re shaken by


life’s stresses. Aſter being a pastor for my entire working life, I’m convinced


that nobody has an ideal life. Te relevant question is what to do with the broken pieces. I recently saw a program on the Japanese art of kintsugi. When


a vessel or objet d’art breaks, a craſtsman puts it together again— but uses powdered gold or silver to fill in the breaks. Te cracks, random and crooked, make the item, paradoxically, even more beautiful than when it was intact. Tat’s my aspiration for our church: Use the broken pieces to make something even more beautiful than the original.


6 AD VENTIS T T OD A Y


Living, Not Doctrines When I speak of building with the shards, I’m not talking only about picking out and preserving our best and most defensible doctrines or practices. Good health and Sabbath rest are worthy, but I’m trying to describe something more foundational than that: a way of living day to day with grace, goodness, and peace. Oswald Chambers says: “We must never put our dreams of


success as God’s purpose for us. His purpose may be exactly the opposite. … God’s end is to enable me to see that He can walk on the chaos of my life just now. If we have a further end in view, we do not pay sufficient attention to the immediate present…” It is not an end that we seek, whether perfect obedience, a


blessed life, or even eternity in heaven. It is active living right now. Our brokenness is not a flaw, but an opportunity—not a bug, but a feature. Leonard Cohen says in his song “Anthem”: “Ring the bells that still can ring Forget your perfect offering Tere is a crack, a crack in everything Tat’s how the light gets in”


But How? Rebuilding from the shards won’t be easy. Yet, understood in the right way, our personal brokenness can be a blessing. And so, I believe, can our church’s brokenness. Our pastors and leaders could help us here. We wait to hear


something other than triumphalism from them: an honest, humble acknowledgement of the human failures of the church, from Ellen White’s time to the present moment. We know the church’s good parts, but we’re waiting to hear recognition from them that rigidity and lack of grace have alienated so many. Tat will help us pick up those good and useful shards and with them rebuild a church of grace and acceptance. Again, I do not criticize those who choose to leave the Seventh-


day Adventist Church, and I hope you won’t, either. Some can find more spiritual health outside than inside. But I do think that reckoning with their experiences among us is an important part of spiritual healing, even for them. As a writer and editor, I have tried to humbly admit what our


stern fundamentalism has done that has hurt people, how it has wounded their relationship with God. Some people accuse me of trying to tear down the church; on the contrary, I am trying to open the door for those who see opportunities to look at Adventism in a new way, so that they might once again appreciate the good things they received here. Tere is, it seems to me, no other way.


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