I’ve been thinking a lot lately about things breaking, which isn’t surprising since I took a tumble and broke myself a few weeks ago. I sustained what is really a minor, although very painful, fracture. My self-image, however, was shattered.

Then I read the lead story in the Muncie StarPress on Sunday, March 11, which led me to more pondering on the relationship between things breaking and our April theme of Emergence. The article featured Jim Wright and his family of Yorktown. If you missed the original reporting, he and his family were driving in their car when a tree blew over on the car, and all four were injured. Mr. Wright’s injuries left him paralyzed from the chest down. A lot of this follow-up article focused on his reflection on the meaning of what happened to him, and the emergence of a more outspoken and robust Christian faith as a result.

I’ll be frank: I have theological problems with the line of reasoning he takes. As a result of the scans done after the accident, doctors discovered blood clots and a cancerous tumor that otherwise would have gone undetected and would probably have been fatal eventually. Mr. Wright believes God allowed the accident to happen because God has a plan, a mission for Mr. Wright. That is vastly different than saying that God caused the accident to happen. His sense of this mission and God’s plan emerged as a result of the terrible breakage of his life endured in the accident.

Here’s my problem. Had Mr. Wright been killed in the accident, would it have meant that God did not have a plan for his life? Couldn’t an omnipotent and all-loving God have come up with a less drastic way to intervene? A less hurtful way? That all having been said, I’m not questioning the meaningfulness or validity of Mr. Wright’s insights for his own life. He’s clearly wrenched meaning from an otherwise random tragedy, and I respect that.

His story, along with my own reflections led me to the theme of emergence and things breaking. I don’t think something must break for emergence to occur, but it seems that often, that’s how it happens. Have you ever watched a baby bird peck its way out of its shell? That’s no easy process, with the as-yet-completely-new-to-the-world bird battering its way out of the shell from the inside out. Seeds must break in order for the nascent plant inside to emerge. Most animals, ourselves included, give birth amidst blood, pain and (for humans) tears.

As we age, it often becomes necessary to let go of pieces of our self-image or identity that we can no longer sustain. My current reality is no longer compatible with my identity as someone who has always been quite active, independent, and able to do for myself. Frankly, I’ve sometimes taken that for granted. If I’m to stay safe, I now must accept restrictions on how I live my life.

For our human vulnerability and the authenticity that comes with it to emerge, the shields and armor we have put up to defend ourselves must fall, often a frightening and painful process. For our relationships to get better and more authentic, old ingrained patterns must be broken through so that the new may emerge. In order to embrace diversity, we must break through the “us vs. them” and zero-sum ways of thinking that protect us from genuine engagement with others and the challenges that come with it.

As Unitarian Universalists, we affirm the importance of spiritual growth, of carrying out a free and responsible search for truth and meaning that is genuinely our own. We do this best when we’re part of a community where we experience acceptance, where we feel heard and supported, and where we can hear and support others in their own journeys of emergence. This is what we need to be and seek to be as a church community.

Emergence is exhilarating, exciting, alive with promise. It’s also hard as heck, scary, and can leave us feeling bruised and battered. We need each other to support and celebrate this process.

~Rev. Julia