GRAFFITI
Blessed Lord, grant us grace to live out our true identity as Christians marked with the sign of the cross. Help us to reflect the image of your love for the entire world.
NRS Hebrews 8:10 This is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my laws in their minds, and write them on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
In the process of reconstructing the Berlin parliament building at the end of the 1990’s, the decision was made to leave intact scars the building acquired during World War II. Graffiti left by Red Army soldiers in 1945 had been hidden behind false walls for more than three decades. The renovation would make these visible and they would allow the building to tell its story through the graffiti. These marks also stand as a grim reminder of a Germany once divided into East and West and the toll on human life that resulted.
We too, as humans, bear the scars of personal wars and graffiti placed by the unkind actions and words of others. We are walking wounded as well as ones who do the wounding of others. I wonder how we would redefine beauty if our “false walls” were removed, and our real scars or graffiti were revealed to tell our story. Would we invent ways to remove these scars and writings through some sort of “spiritual plastic surgery?” What then would happen to our identity, our story, if they were removed?
I think that Hebrews has a comforting message for all who bear such marks, as we have a greater identity to be revealed; one that is written on our hearts and minds. These covenantal words mark us with God’s graffiti, which says that we are marked for special favor and privilege, bound, attached, claimed, and chosen. We can take down our false walls and allow our story to be told, because it is overlaid with the story of God’s love.
So be not afraid to reveal your story, with all of its scars and graffiti. God’s loving claim of you will be visible as well. Amen.