The Heavenly Repair Shop

A thought for the day from the Revd Stuart Davison of the South Eastern Baptist Association 

WANTED: Criminal with stolen sewing machine...

 ... Police say he is following a pattern. 

Before it got moved to BBC 1 and became mainstream, Gill and I got hooked on The Repair Shop. It is described as ‘the antidote to the throw-away culture’.

I am always moved by the stories of restoration and repair; of people in tears when seeing things that hold such memories being brought back to life. It takes a hard heart to not find one’s own tears flowing. A miner’s lamp that saved the life of great-grandpa; a radio that had stopped working but been part of the life of a couple since 1967, the wife now dead; a chair that had been brought from Germany by a Jewish family  as they fled because of the rise of Nazism; a juke-box that been part of the family since being providing the music for a couple’s wedding - and the widower breaking into tears as it plays again ‘their song.’
 
The love and care that they put into the restorations – and not with the intention of making them ‘brand new’ but making them usable with memories still evident. The miner’s lamp was shining and working again – but with the dents that told of its past use in holding up the cave-in in the mine and saved his life. Jay Blades, the presenter, says, ‘We can mend anything except a broken heart’. Some of what they do makes a good stab at that!
 
It spoke to me of how God lovingly restores us, with such care and love and skill. Yet we still carry the marks of the past, as Jesus Himself does in carrying the marks of our salvation into heaven. And he can mend broken hearts.
 
Thank God he is not into throw-away!
 “He has anointed me to bind up the broken-hearted.”
 

For Reading & Further Study:
 
Old Testament Reading: Isaiah 61.1-7
Gospel Reading: Mathew 12 v9-21
New Testament Reading:1 Corinthians 1v26-31
 
 
To Ponder & Pray:

Jacob wrestled with God and limped forever as a result, and yet became Israel in the process. Jesus is risen from the dead and glorified, yet He bears the marks of His crucifixion through all eternity.
 
Where might your scars and wounds become transformed by God for His service and His glory?
 
 

Thought for the Week by Stuart Davidson, regional minister team leader South Eastern Baptist Association

Further Study by Darren Blaney, minister Herne Bay Baptist Church 

Image | Anne Nygård | Unsplash