Being human is not easy. I sometimes wonder whether we really are human or
whether it might be better to describe us as pre-humans, interesting creatures in the process of becoming something great.
Perhaps when we describe Jesus as "truly human," this should not be understood in contrast with "truly divine," but rather
in contrast to the defective humanity which is all we have managed to achieve so far. Looking at Jesus, we see what we hope
to become someday. A real human.
On the last Sunday of May, we celebrated Pentecost. This is the feast of Holy
Spirit, the feast of God-in-us. She will lead us into all truth. Holy Spirit is the dynamism of God urging us all forward
toward newness of life, toward full humanity. We humans are beings in transit, moving always from old to new being. War, violence,
cupidity, cruelty, small-mindedness: these are old realities holding us down. Fear imprisons us like the slaves locked in
Michelangelo's granite and marble. But Holy Spirit mothers us toward new lives of love, compassion, justice, and peace.
Julia Rasnake, Kirsten Petersen, Eric Kabemba, and Nansi Kabonge received the
laying on of hands on Pentecost. Holy Spirit swirled around them. We rejoiced. They received this Spirit willingly as a call,
as "an elemental will toward the attainment of human shape, human recognition."
The world looks pretty dark and depressing right now. But there are still people,
like these four, we pray, who try to struggle out of stone. The Confirmands studied the sacraments this spring, we looked
at these gifts as part of the hero's journey. These kids are my heroes. I wish you could have heard their sermons on our retreat.
You would have been proud. You would have known that Holy Spirit is still active even in our bleak age. There are people still
pushing out of stone, pushing toward Jesus, pushing toward a human shape!
