It might be that the events, images and our experiences of Holy Week and Easter are the most remarkable reminders of embodiment within the Gospels.  The sheer physicality of Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem; the disciples' fatigue and Jesus' prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane; the trial, crucifixion, preparation of his body for the tomb, and the resurrection.  Then, Jesus' bodily appearances after the resurrection including the one with the disciples on the road to Emmaus when they finally recognized him in the breaking of bread, communion.
 
Jesus seemed to navigate having both a body and spirit in the most natural manner.  And, if we are honest, a great deal of mystery surrounds Holy Week.  Who was the historical Jesus, who is Jesus to us now?  The poet Rilke said, "Who is this Christ, who interferes in everything?" 

I want Jesus, his example and ethical teachings to interfere more, not less in my life.  I want Jesus to interfere more in our Church and in the world.  I want him to interfere with our struggles to love ourselves, God and each other.  I want him to interfere when we cling to interpretations of Scripture or church dogma that support our prejudice which hurts others, or when we refuse to see each person as God's child, as neighbor.
 
I want Jesus and his example to help all of us learn how to live in our bodies and spirits, at the same time.  I absolutely believe when people "get comfortable in their own skin" and bodies, they do not worry so much about how love comes to others, or how love is being experienced by others.
 
As a kid growing up in church and the religious culture of southwestern Louisiana, we were taught to be suspicious of our bodies, to tame and break them as we would wild horses.  And, after death we would become spirits with wings to fly around heaven like angels.  I have no idea about, nor do I worry about the afterlife, I just trust God to take care of all that.  Jesus' teachings in Scripture are quite clear that we are to be good stewards of our bodies and spirits and to live in this moment.  How often did Jesus say, "the kingdom of heaven [or the realm of God] is at hand?"
 
For your reflections this Holy Week and Easter, what does it mean to you to be fully human and fully divine?  How are you doing in your body and with your spirit?
 
Kathleen Norris confesses in Amazing Grace, "When I first began to attend church services as an adult I found it ironic that it was the language about Jesus Christ, meant to be most inviting, that made me feel most left out."

She goes on to say, "I began to realize that one of the most difficult things about believing in Christ is to resist the temptation to dis-incarnate him, to not accept him as both fully human and fully divine. The normal human tendency is to succumb to the errors that Gregory Wolfe delineates: "When emphasis is placed on the divine at the expense of the human (the conservative error), Jesus becomes an ethereal authority figure who is remote from earthly live and experience. When he is thought of as merely human (the liberal error), he becomes nothing more than a superior social worker or a popular guru."

Norris offers, "The orthodox Christian seeks another way, that of living with paradox, of accepting the ways that seeming dualities work together in Jesus Christ, in our own lives. For me, this has meant trying to hear the gospels in a way that allows me to reject a simplistic dualism in the interest of a creative tension between flesh and spirit, faith and reason, even God and Caesar."

Our own Church and too many other religious traditions seem to resist relaxing into and embracing this natural and creative tension that Norris' speaks of between flesh and spirit, sexuality and spirituality, of being human and divine.

It seems that we have forgotten that all of us, not just some of us, are created good in the image of God. And, that our human differences including who we are, who we fall in love with and how we make love are part of this glorious creation, resurrection and liberation.

These supposed dualities of faith and reason, flesh and spirit, spirituality and sexuality, of being human and divine, can harmoniously and gracefully co-exist within each of us, within our families and congregations.

I pray for the day when these supposed dualities are more fully accepted and embraced within the Presbyterian Church (USA). Does our faith not stretch far enough to trust God to be present and at work, creating, resurrecting and liberating?  What do we fear, or not trust?  Do we not trust the Christ, as Rilke says, who interferes in everything?  This Easter what will we let go of, and what will we embrace?  New life and love is possible all around us, inside of us.

This Easter and beyond, may none of us "dis-incarnate" or deny the good creation of our bodies, hearts, minds, spirits and relationships.  May none of us fail to recognize the good creation within all of our sisters and brothers, close by and far away.  May none of us dare to try to take the place of the creating, resurrecting and liberating God in the lives of others, or ourselves.

May all of us experience peace of heart and mind this Easter by embracing the inescapable paradox of being children of God, flesh & spirit, human and divine.
 
with hope and grace,
Michael

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Ref: http://www.mlp.org/article.php/HolyWeekHumanDivine