but i'm climbing down the bastion now

you take me out to pasture now

A reading from Genesis 39

As we prepared for our trip to Croatia, one place kept turning up in nearly all the travel literature we read: The Museum of Broken Relationships in Zagreb.

It’s an odd concept, to be sure. A museum dedicated to the breaking of bonds.

Apparently the idea formed when the creators went through a break-up of their own. As they went through all their belongings, deciding who would get what, they joked about forming a collection; an exhibit of artifacts that told the story of relational demise. 

So they put out a world-wide call for artifacts from debris of past relationships. And as pieces flooded in, they quickly had enough material to form a traveling exhibit. 

…So many were the entires, though; and so popular was the exhibit, that eventually a permanent location had to be established to house all the artifacts!

Now, when you enter the museum there’s a note explaining how we have all these rituals for nearly every other part of our life, but nothing for the profound experience of an END of a relationship. 

So, rather than trying to hide this part of life, the museum offers an opportunity to engage it, by contributing to their collection.

…And they just may be onto something.

…So popular has the museum turned out to be, that another one has been created in Los Angles! And traveling exhibits are also being planned for Australia and New Zealand right now. 

In fact, you can still contribute to their collection! And various submission are regularly featured on their webpage.

It’s wild. Isn’t it? 

Apparently it doesn’t matter who you are, or where you’re from, we all have debris from relationships that didn’t pan out the way we planned hiding in our attic.

…And let me tell you, it’s an experience going through the museum. Sometimes my heart would be pounding. Other times nearly breaking. 

Thankfully, there’s even a little levity tossed in there, too. 

The toaster, with the description simply reading; When I moved out, and across the country, I took the toaster. That'll show you. How are you going to toast anything now?”

…There’s only room for about one hundred pieces in the museum, and let me tell you, that’s enough. You can only take so much relational rubble in one place for so long. 

➔ But, for as many and varied as the museum’s collection was, I couldn’t help but notice the preponderance on one sort of item… clothing. Yes, clothing.

…There were the white dress shoes; telling of how he was always being forced to wearing clothing he didn’t like. 

There was the full-length mirror; standing as it had in their house. Standing as a testimony to the worry he should have had by all the time she spent primping herself in front of it. The description saying how she confessed the affair was shortly after he had received particularly scary health news.

And there were other pieces of clothing, jewelry and various accessories.

Although one of the most tragic pieces had to be the wedding dress; suspended above a description telling how that was the only time she ever felt beautiful in the relationship.

…From the very cheap to the very expense, it didn’t matter, every piece of clothing told the same story; brokenness.

…It’s nothing new, though, you know. That’s the only story our clothing has ever been able to tell.

Isn’t that what’s happening with Joseph in today’s scripture? 

Now, we don’t know what sort of story he was trying to tell with his clothing that day Potiphar’s wife nabbed them. But we can be almost certain it wasn’t cheater.

With his garments in someone else’s hands, though, that’s the only story his clothes told.

…And that’s not even the first time that ever happened to ‘ol Joe, either!

Joseph was his father, Jacob’s, favorite son. And rather than trying to hide his favoritism; his dear old dad only flaunted it! Going so far as to give Joseph an Armani suit; or whatever the ancient equivalent was. 

Eventually, his brothers, tired of this preferential treatment, sold him to the caravan that Potiphar eventually buys Joseph off. 

To make sure they weren’t blamed for the treachery, his brothers took Joseph’s suit, and smeared it with blood. Bringing it to their father to convince him Joseph was tragically killed in the wild. 

And it worked, too!

Jacob believed the story Joseph’s clothing told; fabricated though it may have been.

…And that’s how it always goes; like the stitching that holds together our favorite duds, the story we want our clothes to tell is a fabricated one.

We want our clothes to tell the story of success, beauty and happiness. And that’s the story ads peddle, too. 

But, as we all know, all it takes is a little too much friction or tension, something spilling, or just plain carelessness and all too quickly our clothing will tell another story; the story of failure. Brokenness.

The truth is, if you’re anything like Joseph or me, you have more pieces of clothing in you closet that could go to the Museum of Broken Relationships than you care to admit.

…In fact, take a moment. 

Consider the item of clothing you’d contribute to the Museum of Broken Relationships if you had to… 

…Don’t worry, the museum’s entries are anonymous. And I’m not going to make you share, either. 

But maybe we should… 

Maybe, rather than trying to hide those pieces of clothing that tell the story of our failure and brokenness, maybe we should dig them out and wear them to church…

As the popularity of museum testifies, there’s a part of all of us that knows we NEED to let these pieces of clothing see the light of day.

…The only trouble is, it’s not as simple as all that. Is it?

We fear our failures. We worry that if we stop hiding them, they’ll become the story that dominates our life; the story of failure. The story of brokenness. And if that were to happen, all we can imagine is that in the end, that’ll be the only story about us and we’ll be doomed to a fate of brokenness and failure…

The irony, of course, is all our attempts at hiding our failure are ultimately only ever futile. And so in determining to hide our failures, we set off on a course that can only end in failure!

…So how about it, then? What do you say? Should we all wear that one piece of clothing that most bears witness to our greatest failure next week? We probably won’t. But maybe we should.

Because you see, this place is another sort of place. Not a museum, but more like a mausoleum! And, as you know, our God does some of his best work in graveyards!

…You see, the sting of our failures resides in death. 

We fear that if the story of failure predominates our lives, we’ll be doomed to die as failures, too.

But, as Saint Paul said, the sting of death is sin. And the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us victory through our Lord Jesus Christ! (1 Cor. 15)

In Jesus a sort of cross-shaped seven minutes in heaven takes place in here each week! Where you come in wearing one piece of clothing, and you come out wearing an altogether DIFFERENT one!

Each week, whether we like it or not, we come in wearing our failures and brokenness. Don’t we? But in here, Jesus takes that tattered piece of clothing upon himself. 

And in return, he gives you his gown of righteousness, peace, joy and eternal life, too!

This exchange began at your baptism, when you were covered with Christ! Now, everything you wear, no matter what its been through, bears the name Jesus Christ! He’s plastered all over you! 

Even worse than middle-school fashion! 

As Saint Paul said somewhere else, “As many you were baptized into Christ have clothed yourself in Christ! (Gal 3:27)

You are clothed with Christ now, you see! And Christ alone!

In baptism you don’t wear your brokenness anymore! Jesus has gone through your closet and put it on!

That article of clothing you have hidden in the bottom of your dresser drawer, it’s already been worn here, you know. Only not by you. By your savior, Jesus Christ! Jesus, the One who comes with his cross-shaped loom that holds all things together!

You wear Christ, and he wears you! He wears your tattered clothing and you wear his eternal gown!

And the best thing about these holy garments Jesus has covered you with is, they only tell one story! And one story alone. The story of God’s UN-breakable, UN-shakable love for you!

That makes you a little like those placard explaining the artifacts in the Museum of Broken Relationships. Only you DON’T tell the story of brokenness, you tell the story of God’s love that can never be torn asunder!

Each one of us is a walking, talking, living, breathing artifact to the love of God that can never be unraveled! 

If I look close enough I can nearly see it! See it breaking in through all of this, breaking in and mending all our brokenness!

…That makes this the kind of place you can never have too many artifacts in. Doesn’t it? This place the kind of place you can never spend too much time in!

…So, let us tarry a little longer. Bask in this moment a little more. Soak in the wonder of each and ever artifact in this place, covered from head to toe in Christ!