Broken or Blessed?

I recently had the experience of spending two nights in Stranraer hospital after a fall, being knocked out and having an intra-cranial bleed and concussion. The care I received at every level was excellent, from the student paramedic who meant me feel I was in safe hands; the A&E doctor who sorted me out with a CT scan, ECG and chest X-ray, all within a few hours; the cleaning staff who spruced up the ward on both days; the nurses who woke me up throughout the night to take observations. The only slightly iffy part was the salt porridge but if that’s the extent of my grumbling, then I’m not grumbling.

However, politicians, commentators and journalists are regularly telling us that the country is ‘broken’. The NHS is ‘broken’, the welfare system is ‘broken’, the immigration system is ‘broken’ and now the prison service is ‘broken’. Such negativity is wearing and, I think, does a disservice to the people working in those institutions. Problems – yes; the need for more funding – yes; inefficiencies – yes; pressures – yes. But broken?

The UK has the fifth largest economy in the world, the 6th largest average Gross Domestic Product, protects its citizens through huge welfare and heath budgets, an independent judiciary and a free press, parliamentary democracy and – apart from aberrations such as at the Manchester synagogue – the right to worship (or not) without recrimination. Broken or Blessed?

It strikes me that politicians and commentators use that word to either dramatize a story, or to present a narrative from which they can then charge in like shining knights to fix, having blamed the previous government or the institution itself.

Church often talks in terms of ‘brokenness’. An ongoing theme in theology is that we are all broken, we are all sinners, we are all a bit rubbish in relation to God. I don’t buy it. In my view God did not create us to feel a bit rubbish, to feel broken. In John 10:10 Jesus says,

“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” (New International Version)

On the whole we are Blessed, not Broken. Problems – yes; pain – yes; hunger – for some at times; abuse – appallingly, yes, at times; joy – yes; friendship – yes; kindness – yes. We need to acknowledge what we are good at, what works well and deal with our difficulties better. Then maybe with a narrative of Blessings rather Brokenness, we can move away from a culture of blame and criticism.

Peace and prayers, Rev. Joe Cant