CEBM responds to viral photo linking former ‘Pres’ students to Pennywise heist
September 22, 2022
Friday September 23rd: Not a quick fix!
September 23, 2022

Broken Pieces

By Debra Bartholomew
I looked in the mirror for what seemed like a long time. I hated the reflection I saw….hated the woman staring back at me. Well, maybe hate is too strong a word. But I definitely didn’t love her.

For too long, she was everything negative. Too short, too tall, too dark, not dark enough…… not beautiful enough, not smart enough…just not enough. She was just broken… and so was I.

How could I raise my head from the rubble of ugliness? How do I shed the shame of unworthiness? How do I heal the hurt of rejection? And how could I possibly raise two sons to love themselves when I didn’t love me?

Music is a powerful medium. Through it God speaks, listens, and heals. As the

leader of the Sung With Amazing Grace Music Ministry (SWAG), I am

responsible for guiding our members through the gift of song and melodies to help our congregation lift their collective hearts in prayer to God.

Through music, we minister to our congregation, our communities, but we also minister to ourselves.

Our ministry, an eclectic and beautiful mix of young and not so young, neurotypical and neurodivergent individuals, and recently blessed with new members, has decided to host an hour of music worship entitled ‘Worthy’, our second such evening.

Through music, we journey from a place of self-loathing and hurt, and break free of the shackles of unworthiness to find our true worth as children of God.

As Nick Vujicic said, “You don’t know what God can do with your broken pieces, until you give God your broken pieces.”

Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound

That saved a wretch like me….

I once was lost, but now I’m found

Was blind but now I see….”

Join us on Sunday, September 25 at 5 p.m. for Worthy, an evening of worship through music at St Mary’s, Mucurapo and streaming live on YouTube.

Psalm 34:18: “The LORD is near to the broken-hearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.”

2 Corinthians: 4:7–9: “We have this treasure within us, these jars of clay, to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not ourselves. We are pressed on every side, but not crushed, perplexed, but not in despair: persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down but not destroyed.”