Tuesday, 1 June, 2004

The focus of these devotions is Walter Wink’s book “The Human Being” and a section dealing with the vision of the Son of the Man in Ezekiel.



If God is in some sense true humanness, then divinity inverts itself. Divinity is not a qualitatively different reality; quite the reverse, divinity is fully realized humanity. Only God is, as it were, Human. The goal of life, then, is not to become something we are not – divine – but to become what we truly are – human. We are not required to become divine: flawless, perfect, without blemish. We are invited simply to become human, which means growing through our sins and mistakes, learning by trial and error, being redeemed over and over from compulsive behavior – becoming ourselves, scars and all. It means embracing and transforming those elements in us that we find unacceptable. It means giving up pretending to be good and, instead, becoming real.



This almost sounds like a summary of the Velveteen Rabbit. We re invited to become real…really human as in…in the image of God…not gods. Wick is so very wise in reminding us of the difference between being human and striving to be something else that is beyond the reach of our humanity. Today we face too many religious voices that talk about flawlessness and being perfect or voices that are simply critical of everyone who does not fit into a boiler plate of what we are “supposed” to be. When we face the reality of our calling – to be human – as God created us to be…not as we have changed it to be what we want it to be or what we say it should be…then we may be less willing to do battle with others and try to destroy them when they do not fit into our vision of how we are to live. But first, it may do us well to learn what humanity is all about in it fullness not simply in the way we have come to see it through our own lenses.



Connection: There is a profound beauty in being fully human. Just think of the many ways we can be available to people in ways that bring comfort, rest, peace, love, aid, and a self-sacrificing presence into this day. It can be quite amazing.



Come, Holy Spirit, enrich us with your bountiful grace and empower us to take the risk to living within this day not as if we have something we could lose, but as we have something to give as a gift to the world through our lives. Amen.