BOOK
REVIEW: BLESSED, BROKEN, GIVEN BY GLENN PACKIAM
Packiam, Glenn. Blessed, Broken, Given:
How Your Story Becomes Sacred in the Hands of Jesus. Colorado Springs, CO:
Multnomah, 2019.
Of
the term, sacramental, a variety of thoughts enter the minds of believers.
While, for some, sacramental might be linked to salvific grace, the nature of
the word’s Latin roots suggests sacredness. Glenn Packiam’s 2019 publication, Blessed,
Broken, Given, illuminates the concept of sacramental life in Christ. In
Jesus’ hands, frail people become blessed; in Jesus’ hands, brokenness allows
Christians to become open to the grace of God; and in Jesus’ hands, believers
realize that sacred life is not for selfish gains but rather for the glory of
the one who has redeemed.[1] Bread is used in the
Lord’s Table as a deep reality of Christ and his body on earth: the church,
i.e. while the element of bread is surely imagery, what it symbolizes,
sacramental life, is reality. Discussing sacramental life as a work in three
primary movements (blessed, broken, given), Glenn Packiam contends for the
participation of those redeemed by Christ.
Prelude
Packiam begins
his work with a prelude to his three movements. The book centers around the
element of bread; thus, the prelude discusses bread not solely as a metaphor
but as a visible display of spiritual reality. The author alludes to the
societal problem of not seeing the sacramental nature of life. “One of the
reasons we have such trouble seeing–truly seeing–is that we’ve been shaped by centuries
of cultural tides that have taught us not to see, in fact, not to even look for
anything beyond,” writes Packiam.[2] While many (including
Christians) observe miracles as God overriding the laws of the universe,
Packiam contends that they are examples of God working within his own world.[3] Life then should be
considered sacramental in nature and his people the bread of his making. As
bread is made by the baker for his or her intended use, Christian life and all
aspects thereof are meant for use in God’s design.
Movement
One
Packiam
continues his work with the first movement: blessed. Beginning with a shift in
paradigm of what it means to be blessed, God’s grand design includes humankind
made in his image. From the creation of humankind to the fall and to redemption
through Christ, God’s plan in the lives of his people is sacred. Christian life
is bread; Packiam beckons his readers to place their lives in the hands of
Jesus to return to the sacred origin.[4]
Blessed,
Broken, Given discusses issues of pain, hurt, and brokenness in a cyclic
manner. Without an understanding of these realities, one may not understand the
sacredness of redeemed life. Continuing the first movement, Packiam invites his
readers to further realize their new name in Christ despite the plurality of
broken backgrounds from which the church arrives. Further, Packiam argues for
the broadness of God’s blessing, i.e. God “desires all to be swept up in his
saving and redeeming love.”[5] To illustrate his point,
the author references God’s blessing to Hagar, which was originally given to
Abraham (Gen 16:10): “I will surely multiply your offspring so that they cannot
be numbered for multitude.” Believers have been given a new name and new identity
in Christ and one that is meant for a plurality of people, i.e. the scope of
God’s love is broad.
Maintaining
that life is sacramental in nature, Packiam continues his first movement by
linking the Lord’s Table to eternal reality. Disparate from the days of old
covenants, God is now perpetually available to his people because of Christ’s
mediation. “God pours out his glory on this new people when they gather
together,”[6] writes Packiam.[7] Packiam, moreover,
discusses the connection between the Table and the family of which all
Christians are a part. God has redeemed his people and returned them to his
sacred purpose; therefore, as one body, the church subsists around the Table of
the Lord as one with him. In this manner, believers are blessed.
Movement
Two
Packiam’s
second movement, broken, centers around the breaking of bread. Human nature is
broken and radically depraved; yet, Jesus blesses brokenness. Despite
humanity’s dreadful sin and shame, “Jesus has brought…peace.”[8] Packiam even shifts the paradigm
of how believers commonly view suffering and pain. Human nature is to desire
prevention; yet, in sacramental life, God opts for redemption.[9] Packiam excellently
connects blessing and brokenness.
Furthermore,
brokenness takes a communal aspect, for the body is Christ is one which has one
Lord and one Savior. Communal brokenness, therefore, requires communal
confession. Packiam writes, “We need a community of people who know us, who
love us even in our brokenness, and who will call us to repentance for our
failures, for the things we have done and for the things we have left undone.”[10]
There is a
purpose, however, in Christian brokenness: sharing. Without breaking bread, the
sharing of bread is not possible; yet, the sharing is the responsibility of
God. “He will do the multiplication, but he wants our participation.”[11] The focal point of
movement two is brokenness. Nonetheless, there is a stalwart connection to
blessedness. Packiam’s trajectory begins with blessedness, moves to brokenness,
and concludes with giving. Without brokenness, however, bread may not be given.
Movement
Three
Sacramental
life requires participation. “God intends for us to be more than recipients of
the kingdom; we are to be participants in this arriving reign of God.”[12] Once there is a
realization of blessedness and brokenness, Christians should understand the
call to give. As bread is broken to be given and as Christ was broken to be
given, Christians are also broken to be given. One’s perspective, however, must
be that of bread rather than beggar. Packiam suggests that while most people
would likely not admit to see themselves as beggars, their lives infer the
opposite.[13]
Sacramentally,
the church should exist as one body of Christ, which implies healing
inclusivity,[14]
i.e. God’s gift is meant to be shared. Additionally, as God’s people give, in a
cyclic way, “giving begets more giving.”[15] As God has given, the
church is also to give. Giving, however, must not occur only between other
members of the body of Christ but also by giving to the world. Christians are
called to welcome the stranger. After his resurrection, in Luke’s account,
Jesus appeared to his disciples as a supposed stranger; yet, they welcomed him.
He then sat with them and “started acting like the host.”[16] Packiam reveals a
beautiful miracle in the fact that the disciples’ eyes were opened after he
took the bread, blessed it, and gave it. “…it was the breaking of bread that
opened their eyes.”[17]
Sacramental
life bids participants to share what has been given, i.e. Christians have been
blessed and broken to give. A Christian who does not give is one who does not
complete the trajectory of sacramental life. Packiam’s third movement completes
the journey with a vivid argument of Christian purpose: giving.
Postlude
and Conclusions
The
postlude of the work, to Packiam, is the King’s feast. Such is the feast to
which God’s people are invited. Packiam writes, “God has prepared a Table for
us with his own body and blood as our bread and cup. And the world sets a table
before us, offering its delights.”[18] Christ gives an
invitation to abandon an empty and selfish life and participate in his sacred
life. The author sets the stage for the reader to make a choice: a choice to
neglect or participate in sacramental life.
Glenn
Packiam’s Blessed, Broken, Given offers readers a vital but (unfortunately)
rare connection between sacrament and life. A trajectory of sacred life is
portrayed in three movements. Therefore, the author does a superb job of
providing a track, which readers may follow in a succinct way. Where the term,
sacrament, is often linked to Communion or Baptism alone, Packiam conveys a
gospel message of sacramental life, to which the church is called as a single
body. The three-movement form greatly aids in presenting this shift in thought.
Skillfully, after unfolding the three movements, Packiam offers his readers an
invitation from God himself: an invitation to participate in the sacramental
life of Christ. The book helps to tear down preconceived thoughts of sacrament
and holds to a foundation of the church’s union with Christ. In a mystical
manner, therefore, God’s people are called to participation in the life of
Christ, for they have been blessed and broken and are called to be given in the
church’s sacramental life.
[1] Glenn Packiam, Blessed,
Broken, Given: How Your Story Becomes Sacred in the Hands of Jesus (Colorado
Springs, CO: Multnomah, 2019), 21.
[2] Ibid., 16-17.
[3] Ibid., 19.
[4] Ibid., 40.
[5] Ibid., 49.
[6] Ibid., 61.
[7] The sacramental nature of this book assumes a strong
link here to the Lord’s Table.
[8] Ibid., 92.
[9] Ibid., 105.
[10] Ibid., 112.
[11] Ibid., 121.
[12] Ibid., 135.
[13] Ibid., 141.
[14] Ibid., 156.
[15] Ibid., 160.
[16] Ibid., 172.
[17] Ibid., 173.
[18] Ibid., 191.
