Thanks for Weakness

Thanks for Weakness--July 14, 2017

"Friends, I beg you, become as I am, for I also have become as you are. You have done me no wrong. You know that it was because of a physical infirmity that I first announced the gospel to you; though my condition put you to the test, you did not scorn or despise me, but welcomed me as an angel of God, as Christ Jesus."  [Gal. 4:12-14]

It turns out that our weak places are gifts.

It turns out that being vulnerable is the key to being available.

Maybe that is hard to imagine, since we think of vulnerability as a synonym for weakness; it is a liability, a soft spot that must be defended, an opening in the city walls where we are susceptible to attack.  Our fear of being vulnerable is what leads us to erect the defense mechanisms that keep us so distant for so much of the time.  I don't want you to reject me, so I will reject you preemptively to avoid being hurt.  You retreat and withdraw from friendships or connections with others to avoid discovering they are not perfect.  We make ourselves feel better by keeping out the other from our clubs--the ones who are different, the ones not already in the club.  Nations and governments coerce and threaten and kill each other rather than risk seeming weak to enemies.  It's all the same game, and it all comes out of this deep sense in us that it is bad to be vulnerable.

But for Paul, his own vulnerability was an opening for relationship.  We don't know what Paul's "physical infirmity" was--some think he was going blind (later in Galatians he talks about how big his handwriting has become), and others think he had some sort of ailment that kept him from getting around physically.  Who knows?  Well, the Galatians knew.  Paul shared it with them; he found himself in their community with a chance to bring the news of Jesus, and he risked sharing himself with them even though it meant imposing on them by staying with them.  This is another challenge for many of us who were always taught never to impose on others. It's not good manners to need things from others, it's a sign, we think, of--you guessed it--vulnerability and weakness.  And for Paul, it is just in those shows of vulnerability--of dependence on another, asking for help when it is needed, offering help without becoming patronizing--that grace takes a hold of people.  Paul's whole way of announcing the gospel to the Galatians came through whatever weaknesses he had, not by hiding them or covering them up or denying they every existed.  He presented himself to these Christians as he was, warts and all, as an example of the powerful embrace of God who loves people as they are--warts and all.  That is the gift of vulnerability.

Imagine today how your conversations with others would be different if the game-playing of trying to impress others was taken out of the equation.  Imagine the freedom you would find in daring to share yourself with others rather than putting up defenses.  Imagine the depth of connection you might find with someone in being honest about your own places of weakness, along with your strengths.  That is the gift of vulnerability.

Gracious God who receives us knowing full well all our weak places, you are also the God who graciously risks loving us even knowing that we so poorly and rarely love you back as we ought.  Grant us today the courage to be vulnerable in appropriate ways, following the model of your servants like Paul, the model he learned from Jesus your Son, the model you give us yourself in the risk of loving and creating the world.