Sanitization has became our new national pastime. Rightfully so, of course, because we all need to be washing our hands regularly and sanitizing what we touch if we want to beat this pandemic.
I grew up working in my Dad’s junkyard. Junkyards are messy places. Everything in them has a touch of grease, grime, and dirt. At the end of a long day it would take a lot of soap and water to wash up. I remember how my Dad’s hands seemed to have a permanent thin layer of grease under his fingernails.
Our lives — even our lives in the midst of a pandemic — are a lot like junkyards. They are messy, never fully sanitized, and cluttered with all kinds of oddities.
And yet, combatting pandemics aside, having a bit of grime around isn’t always a bad thing. We need grease and oil to keep things moving forward, as every mechanic knows. A perfectly sanitized engine freezes up quickly.
Someone recently asked me to put in words what this blog is all about. Well, there are a lot of themes, just as there are a lot of odd things in the junkyards of my youth. But here are a few thoughts.
Junkyard Wisdom explores the grittiness of authentic faith. It’s about the raw faith many of us long for, the kind that isn’t afraid to be totally honest or create a mess along the way. It’s a faith that’s disruptive without being confrontational, one that doesn’t try to erase or ignore tensions.
The spiritual life isn’t linear, and sometimes we need to be jolted out of the comfort of our cultural and theological assumptions. Actively wrestling with truth, justice, and love is often chaotic and always uncomfortable, but Junkyard Wisdom operates with transparency, humility, and curiosity.
Like the grease and oil-covered dirt of junkyard soil, Junkyard Wisdom isn’t pretty or sanitized, but it is generous, tough, and honest. Do not forget: we need the grease to keep things working smoothly. Embracing the messiness and brokenness of our world allows a grace-filled and authentic faith to flourish.
In one line, Junkyard Wisdom invites others to wrestle with the grittiness of faith, generosity, justice, and love.
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