BAM Out of Brokenness: An Easter Reflection
Today is Good Friday*. A day absolutely central to the gospel story and to our lived experience as followers of Jesus.
One of our scripture readings in our monthly BAM Prayer Call this week was of the suffering servant in Isaiah 53:
Surely he took up our pain
and bore our suffering,
yet we considered him punished by God,
stricken by him, and afflicted.
But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
and by his wounds we are healed.
This is the picture that we have of Jesus on Good Friday – our wounded healer.
And we are reminded that as followers of Jesus, we too are called to be wounded healers in a broken world.
As we contemplate Christ dead on the Cross, our thoughts turn to the countless injustices and sufferings which prolong his passion in every part of the world. I think of the places where man is insulted and humiliated, downtrodden and exploited. In every person suffering from hatred and violence, or rejected by selfishness and indifference, Christ continues to suffer and die. On the faces of those who have been “defeated by life” there appear the features of the face of Christ dying on the Cross. Ave, Crux, spes unica! Today too, from the Cross there springs hope for all. – Pope John Paul II, Good Friday, 10 April 1998.
The Joy of the Lord is Your Strength
In just a few short weeks we will be gathering together at our BAM Global Summit, an online connecting point for the global business as mission community.
Doing BAM out of a place of brokenness and weakness, with a posture of humility and dependency on the Lord, has been a theme that the Lord has highlighted to us.
As we have been praying and preparing for the Summit, ‘the joy of the Lord is your strength’ from Nehemiah 8 is one of the verses we’ve been drawn to. Like the people in Nehemiah, these past years have been a battle in the midst of building for many of us in the BAM community, and we are ‘mid-restoration’ – aware of our own brokenness and weakness! We too want to gather together with a longing for the Lord, to say ‘yes’ to Him as we celebrate together, despite our failings and our brokenness and despite the challenges and suffering.
The other passage that has been drawing us, and will be the focus of our opening Summit devotional, is ‘Mary’s Song’ from Luke 1. When Mary was given a surprising and quite outrageous assignment from the Lord, she responded in worship, with a posture of humility and obedience – even though she knew that saying ‘yes’ would lead to suffering.
Restoration from Brokenness
Which brings us back to the Easter story. Resurrection from the grave, life from death, redemption out of suffering, restoration from brokenness.
As followers of Jesus, we are to be wounded healers in the world, but how can we possibly bring transformation through our businesses and organisations without His resurrection power at work in our own lives?
That’s what we need and long for. Our hope and prayer for the BAM Global Summit this April is that as we gather together in a posture of humility and dependency on God, our longings for resurrection, redemption and restoration would be answered by Him – in our own lives and the lives and communities around us.
At the Summit we will hear business stories and real BAM experiences from across the world – we will hear how BAMers have said ‘yes’ to the Lord and what that has meant for them, their companies and their communities. We will be asking God how he wants us to continue to say ‘yes’ to Him in response.
Our prayer is that as we gather together at the Summit this month, that we will be refreshed and renewed in joy and strength for the work of business as mission. Will you join us?
BAM GLOBAL SUMMIT 2023
THURSDAY 27 APRIL
Join us this April at the annual gathering point for the global business as mission movement…
Gather with the global BAM community at the BAM Global Summit 2023, online on Thursday 27 April. The Main Stage presentations will be broadcast twice, live for both the East and West hemispheres. In between will be a joint schedule of breakouts and multiple opportunities for networking.
Jo Plummer is the co-chair of BAM Global and the author and editor of many business as mission papers and articles, including the BAM Global Think Tank Report series. She is a Lausanne Catalyst for Business as Mission and the co-editor of the Lausanne Occasional Paper on Business as Mission. She has been developing resources for BAM since 2001 and currently serves as Editor of this Business as Mission website and blog.
*We do recognise that many around the world celebrate Easter next week. Easter greetings to you whenever you celebrate!
