God has a passion for mending brokenness. Scripture is filled with passages in which the God of the universe shows compassion for the weak of this earth, like a hen that gathers her chicks under her wings (Mt 23:37). This is the picture of the Christian God: a deity who has the hairs of our head numbered, who cares about the feeding patterns of sparrows and the enduring beauty of lilies in a grassy meadow (Lk 7;24; 12;7; 27-28). How much more valuable, sister in Christ, brother in Christ, are you? How much more valuable indeed!

While there can be little doubt of God’s interest in the heart-mending business, individuals must recognize their need of repair and congregations must be prepared to assist in the tasks of mending. God’s mending does not occur in a factory, where hundreds of machines and machine operators sew clothing in a standard fashion. God’s mending occurs one heart at a time - sometimes at the altar, sometimes at the kitchen table, sometimes during a walk in the woods, sometimes prompted by the words of another woman of faith, always prompted by the still small voice (1 Kings 19:11).

As people of faith we need to recognize brokenness in ourselves and in those around us. We have to acknowledge our need to have the healing balm of Gilead applied to our afflictions, physical or emotional or spiritual. The God we serve, who loved us before we could love in return, is in the business of mending hearts, shattered dreams and broken bodies. To put it in the language of the day: the market niche of God’s Spirit is heart repair. But how is the healing balm of Gilead applied? That’s where you and I come in. That is the role of congregational life.

God chooses earthly vessels, jars of clay, ordinary people to assist in responding to the brokenness around us. There are many models of menders offered in Scripture: think of Dorcas, Phoebe, Priscilla, or the unnamed stretcher bearers, each a conduit to the healing touch of Jesus.

The story of Dorcas is recorded in Acts 9. A woman named Tabitha, translated as Dorcas, lived in Joppa. She was constantly doing good and helping the poor and needy, especially widows. She would use a needle and thread in her upstairs room to sew garments for poor women who had nothing to wear. Clothing needy women was her market niche. But she fell ill and died, and the church in Joppa begged Peter to redirect his travels in order that he could visit their town and touch her body. Somehow the Christian community in Joppa was convinced that its ministry opportunities would be thwarted without the talents and gifts of this old woman. Peter came. The church widows showed him the hand-made garments Dorcas had crafted. Peter prayed. Dorcas arose.

In the tradition of Dorcas, some today use domestic talents in service of Christ. This woman used some rather uncomplicated tools - a needle, some thread, a pair of scissors - to offer hope to needy women. Her ministry of clothing worked to mend some of the rips and tears that years of living had created. She was a sister of mercy before the name was adopted by Catholic nuns. And congregations can become sisters of mercy to families in crisis..

Phoebe’s service to God and the growing Christian community is recorded in Romans 16. Paul commends to his readers this woman whom he calls a servant (or a deacon) of the church in Cenchreaa, asking that they receive her in a manner worthy of the saints, offering her help and remembering her labour. How exactly did Phoebe serve the church? Among other tasks, female deacons in the early church prepared women candidates for baptism and visited women and girls in their homes—which was not always appropriate for men to do. While Dorcas was stitching broken hearts, Phobe was washing them.

When the Christian church sets about bathing our lives, we do not feel dirty or shameful any longer. The old nature, replete with heartache and pain, is replaced with a new nature fashioned in likeness to Christ. The past is washed away. God’s Spirit beckons us to start over - to mourn no longer, to rise and go forth, to put our hand to the plough and not look back.

While Dorcas stitches and Phoebe cleanses, Priscilla offers wise counsel. A tentmaker by trade, Priscilla and her husband Aqila began a house ministry in Ephesus, after being commissioned by Paul to leave their homestead in Corinth for the sake of ministry. Their family story, recorded in Acts 18, suggests that Priscilla used her talents both inside and outside the home to share the gospel and to reason in the synagogues - and often as she and Aquila sold their goods in the marketplace. She used her intellectual prowess to convince others of the efficacy of the gospel of Christ. She offered hope to the hopeless by words of wisdom, reason and truth.