Kim Gentes

Defining and understanding brokenness requires us to first articulate its inverse state- health. In North American culture, it seems a foreign and fantastic fiction to believe in the idea of a healthy person. Modernity with its inhuman, scientific collectivism and post-modernism with its cynical self-loathing have left us lacking a clear understanding of what a "whole person" is. My definition is simply this- a healthy person is one who grows and thrives on a holistic (body, emotions and soul) path which benefits themselves and those around them. There are examples of holistic cultures that produced generations of largely "healthy" individuals in their past or present- several North American native tribes, Amish communities, Japan(1) and some other strongly collectivist societies are clear models of this.

Conversely, a broken person is someone who is disabled from thriving in some sense, not allowing for holistic growth, and / or negatively impacting those around them. Hedonistic late 20th century America, Nazi Germany(2), and the declining Roman empire of the 5th century produced such torrid results as entire classes of slaves (such as the Romans), genocide (such as Nazi Germany) , and even large portions of the population which were personally broken (such as late 20th century US).

Historically, collectivism and individuality have been counter-weights on an ever tepid scale, helping to keep the human race in a complex balance of personal and social health. In languishing times for either scope (societal or personal) survival was made possible through the strength of the other.

When individual vitality in a given culture was under attack, the strength of the collective would protect and eventually re-tip the balance back to the individual over time. The societies of the European monastics were an example of community protecting individuals and core values of our civilization through the dark ages, when individuals had little power, crushed under the weight of barbarism and the later feudal systems. Similarly, the society of AA became a collective conscience and community that proved (and still does) to be an effective cure for millions of individuals who might have thought themselves as hopeless(3). In both cases, constructs of community became vanguards to heal and "save" the individual. These are beautiful examples of the positive power of collectivism.

Conversely, when societal structure and collectivism became a cancer, individual heroes rose up and rallied their contemporaries to a sense of living for the greater good. Iconic historical figures such as Jesus, Joan of Arc, apostle Paul (the first person to write significantly in a historical document about equality between different classes, races and genders), William Wilberforce, Abraham Lincoln, and Martin Luther King stood up against entire societies to wrench freedom from the collective cultures of their day in hopes of dispersing its benefits to individuals, oppressed and broken as they were. These heroes showed us a new way of living rightly as individuals, even in the face of oppressive societies.

Turning our particular attention to the late 20th century and early 21st century in North America, there is a strain of brokenness that has become all but epidemic. The 20th century began to wobble off it's axis through a series of devastating world events. World war I began the first time modern man engaged in a global conflict, ending millions of lives and shocking a generation. On the immediate heals of that, the Great Depression impaled North America of its optimism and drove economic ruin across the globe. Germany fell prey to Hitler and his promises to bring economic, political and social vitality back to Europe. As we know, this eventually led to World War II and the subsequent generational devastation in terms of both deaths and emotional stunting of hundreds of thousands of war-time survivors. WWII alone had such tragic global deathtolls- 55 million according to D. Myers(4) – that its impact on the emotional health of the generation of children born to those surviving parents was a ten-fold increase of depression(5).

Bringing these three great tragedies into perspective, WWI, the Great Depression and WWII was a triad of death and economic destruction for nearly 30 years (1917-1946). With that foundation of trauma embedded in American society, the impact came first in a devastating flood of divorce. In the time immediately proceeding WWII, the divorce rate quadrupled(6) in the US- a horrific, though sadly understandable aftershock of emotional blunting to the American homeland. Though the divorce rate fell in half from its height in the mid-1940's till it receded in 1960, it "leveled-off" nearly 50% higher than than its pre-WWII values. This same phenomena appeared in microcosm around the WWI era as well- a sharp spike, then somewhat of an easing until it troughed out around 1935, before climbing gradually through the early 40's until WWII began another jump.

But beginning at 1960, we saw a sharp, and long-lasting incline in the divorce rate. Beginning with the 60's sexual revolution, partnered with quickly rising divorce rate the result was the first generation of "broken" families. From that nexus, Myers argues in his book "American Paradox" that a series of unrelenting destruction engulfed US society, leaving it virtually incapable of recovery without serious change.

My belief is that once the core of society (the family unit) was torn apart, the balance between collectivism and individualism was lost in American culture. No longer would the strength of community be counted on to rescue or recover the broken individual. Similarly, with so many individuals effected by the years of traumatic war, depression and now family brokenness, the ability to provide individuals with "prophetic" voice who call a society back to its collectivist strength was severely muted.

Our society has become a breeding ground for illness in both individual brokenness and community wholeness. The symbiotic nature of the two, and their current states of illness, have led to a spiralling collapse of the overall superstructure of morality and common good. Brokenness is pandemic and pervasive at every level.

Is there hope? I think so. Alcoholics Anonymous is a beautiful example of human and spiritual life using the very brokenness of a society and individuals to be the healing agent to others caught in sickness. We have some individual voices of hope as well, though they are faint. Mother Teresa was one such voice. There is hope for America, but it will not come from the strong. It will come, as we have seen, via AA and Mother Teresa, from the very ones who struggle with and work through brokenness. In this vacuum of hope and spirituality, the voice of hope will be one man saying to another "know the Lord".

For many, this will seem odd and even incorrect. But this phrase is taken from the following scripture, which has much to teach us about healing brokenness:

This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time, declares the Lord.
I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts.
I will be their God, and they will be my people.

No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, "Know the Lord,"
because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest.

For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more."(7)

This passage is commonly interpreted as requiring man to somehow put God's law in their hearts, wherein we will gain heavenly wisdom, know God (from the least to the greatest) and to which God will forgive sins and wickedness. But this interpretation is deeply flawed. What the scripture promises is that God himself will write His law on our hearts. That is clearly not the state of American culture and people today. If it was, our current epidemic of brokenness would not pervade. Knowing this, we must wait for God to write his law on our hearts. We cannot pretend to do this ourselves.

What must we do in the intervening time? I believe the statement "No longer" provides us with a time-tense in which to understand this verse:

No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, "Know the Lord,"
because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest.(8)

When will it be that we "no longer" need to teach one another or say "know the Lord"? The answer seems clear- when the preceding condition has been met. In other words, when God has written his law on our hearts and in our minds, then we will no longer need to teach one another about the Lord, as though each of us didn't know him.

What AA discovered in the foundational starting point of its tenants was the core truth that men and women are powerless to heal themselves.(9) This bedrock leads to literally every other tenant of the AA program- allowing all the powerlessness of self to be handed over to the power of God. In their proven plan, He becomes the control of all decisions personal and interpersonal – guiding the actions, thoughts and the recovery of the self. But the recovery is not a selfish ascent into human mastery. No, it is a selfless surrender to both God's will and the righting of relationship with others we have harmed. The AA creed is a profound restating of the command Jesus left us with regarding loving God and loving others.

Jesus answered, "The foremost is, "Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is one Lord;
And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength."
The second is this, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." There is no other commandment greater than these." (10)

We cannot heal the brokenness of the country on our own strength. But we can heed the rediscovery that AA has made, that originates on the words of Jesus. Love God. Love others. As we do this, we will see one person, one community at a time come back to health. This kind of change may take generations to effect a city, decades to effect a region, perhaps a century to impact a nation. But this is the path we can take, must take, if we are to consider seriously acting to bring health to the brokenness that plagues our society.

The challenges we face cannot be tackled by the remedies of the past. As much as AA was a help to the 20th century, we must believe and pursue God's help for our time. By looking at these ungirding truths we can find the essentials of love within Jesus teaching (and the rest of the Bible as well) that can lead us back to the way of living as the image-bearing creation God intended for us.

Researched & Written by Kim Gentes