July 28th

     At the risk of being burned at the stake, I want to express thoughts that have been whizzing around in my mind.  Were you not taught, as I was, that Jesus was human and divine?  That in the person of Jesus, divinity “was made flesh and dwelt among us”?  Bishops at the Council of Chalcedon (451) cautioned Christians not to think of these natures as separate, rather as, uniquely one, in the person Jesus.
        So far, so good—but here is the part I am pondering:  is Jesus a paradox who offers us a key to help us understand ourselves?  Are we too a mixture of human elements and elements we name divine?  Personally, I am well aware of my humanness.  My five senses are fallible guides for knowing tangible reality; even less helpful in comprehending intangible or supernatural reality.  I am aware that my human perceptions and understandings are limited.
        Yet I intuit a Self beyond my self guiding me toward a greater sense of Reality.  There is a divine indwelling that allows me to “see,” to “know,” in a different way.  Our tradition upholds we are “made in the image and likeness of God,” we are “the Body of Christ,” we are “temples of the Holy Spirit.”  There is more to me than only my human nature; I am intimately connected to divinity.
        If Jesus’ divinity/humanity is not an anomaly, if we humans are a mixture (albeit a very imperfect one) of humanness and godliness; then the word of God is still being made flesh by people in our own day and time.  Then in Jesus Christ we do have a key to understanding ourselves as both human and capable of bringing the presence of God into our world.  Then incarnation is ongoing.