Tag Archives: Human

Devotional

Human Again

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Read Daniel 4:8-33

ALSO IN SCRIPTURE
“Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we will also bear the image of the man of heaven.” (1 Corinthians 15:49 NRSV)

BelleOne of my favorite Walt Disney films of all times is an animated film called, “Beauty and the Beast.” It is one of those rare stories that transcends its medium (e.g. animation) and reflects a truth and/or reality within its viewers. On the surface, the story is about a beautiful french peasant girl named Belle (whose name means beauty in French) who wants nothing more than to escape her present reality and live more than “this provincial life.”

Of course, based on the classic fairytale, we all know that Belle gets more than she bargained for. She finds herself locked up in a castle by a ferocious, hideous beast. Overtime, though, the Beast finds himself falling in love with Belle and, in turn, Belle finds herself falling in love with the Beast. It is, of course, that mutual love between them that will lift the curse on the beast and his castle, and will transform him from a beast into who he was created to be, a charming prince.

What I love about this tale is not so much the “happily ever after” end of it, but in the dark reality that leads up to the need for a “happily ever after.” In the Walt Disney version, each of the characters are shown to have inherent flaws. The prince, at the outset of the film, was cold-hearted and self-centered. When a beggar woman came to him to seek shelter from the cold, he rejected her because of her haggard appearance. Of course, that woman was really an enchantress and she cursed the prince, making his external appearnce match his internal self: a cold-hearted, fercious beast.

His court ended up cursed with him. While they had nothing directly to do with prince’s wicked actions, they were cursed as well. Perhaps some were undeserving of the curse but, as is often the case, they suffered the consquences of the sins and evil of someone else. Some of them were cursed to be transormed into the objects that represented their daily duties. For instnace, the maid became a feather duster, the head master the staff and spokesman for the prince, became a clock. The womanizing servant Lumiere became a candelabra. In essence, the very castle that objectified its subjects, and saw people as a means to an end, became doomed to be objects as well.

Moving beyond the prince, the other characters are imprisoned by their flaws too. Gaston is imrisoned by his own vanity and pride. LeFou, Gaston’s sidekick, is imprisoned by his desire to have status by virtue of his association with Gaston. The townspeople are imprisoned by their fears and ignorance. Maurice, Belle’s father, is imprisoned by is preoccupation with his inventions, allowing them to take precedence over his time with his daughter. Finally, Belle is imprisoned by her desire to have more than what she currently has. She doesn’t want to be stuck living the simple life, with simple people, settled down in a family that keeps her from exploring the world.

In the Broadway play, as the Beast and Belle start to fall in love, there is a musical number that the enchanted objects (e.g. Lumiere, Mrs. Potts, Chip, Cogsworth, etc.) begin to sing entitled, “Human Again.” Seeing that the Beast and Belle have begun to understand what actually means to selflessly love, there is hope that the kingdom can be restored back to being “human again.” The heart of this song has an important message for us all. If we are to be truly human again, if we are to be as we were created to be, we will be consumed by selfless, unconditional love. In the meantime, we are only shadows (some of us even beastly shadows) of our true selves.

While not everyone will learn what it means to be love, those who do will be restored to their true humanity. Jesus Christ showed us what it means to be truly human, and what we need to do in order to be truly human again. Our challenge is for us to study Jesus teachings and examples one what it means to be love, and to begin to allow Christ, through the Holy Spirit, to perfect us in being truly human again. Let’s not  just admire Christ, but begin to live and love like him.

THOUGHT OF THE DAY
“Like a real human does, I’ll be all that I was on that glorious morn when we’re fin’lly reborn, and we’re all of us human again!” – Alan Menken and Tim Rice, “Human Again”, Beauty and the Beast

PRAYER
Lord, free me from everything that is keeping me from being truly human. Amen.

Devotional

Let Harmony Ring

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Read Psalm 133

ALSO IN SCRIPTURE

“For you have been called to live in freedom, my brothers and sisters. But don’t use your freedom to satisfy your sinful nature. Instead, use your freedom to serve one another in love. For the whole law can be summed up in this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” But if you are always biting and devouring one another, watch out! Beware of destroying one another.” (Galatians 5:13-15)

elements_of_harmony_circle__vector__by_akili_amethyst-d5fxotcEvery person who has ever walked the earth has run into somebody at some point that they just don’t like. Perhaps the person seems snooty, or they just rub you the wrong way; we have all had the experience of being around people who seem to clash with our personalities and sensibilities. It is an unavoidable consequence to living in a community.

I have often heard some even state that they “hate” people out of frustration because of the way someone else treated them. To be completely honest, I have found myself uttering those words…especially when I used to commute long distances in heavy traffic. I have no doubt that I am not alone when I say that there are times I wish I were alone with no one else around to cut me off, give me attitude, or say something hurtful to me.

Yet, when we stop to think about it, the alternative is far, far worse. Just take a moment and try and imagine a world in which you truly were alone. Try and imagine a world where there was, literally, no one around to “bother” you. What kind of world would that be? How would you truly manage without the presence of others? How would you survive even a day without others to socially interact with?

There are many movies that try and picture what such an apocalyptic world would look like, where a person wakes up to find him or herself isolated in a world where no other human life exists. These films usually throw in zombies or other human survivors and never really explore what life alone would truly be like. Perhaps that is because life alone is something we really cannot fathom…it’s something that goes against our very nature and experience as human beings.

As children of God, we were designed to be in relationship with one another. We were called to live in harmony with other people. Some people get the idea that harmony means that we all hold hands and agree to skip down the yellow brick road together; however, that is not true harmony at all. Harmony is not someone always agreeing with me and what I believe to be correct; rather, harmony happens when people simultaneously put aside their differences to find common ground to stand on.

Harmony takes work. It does not come easy; however, we were created to live harmoniously with each other. God does not wish for us to gossip, slander, hold grudges, or be hateful toward others; rather, God wants us to be loving, joyful, peaceful, patient, kind, good and faithful toward one another. We should be striving to bring harmony into our communities, not discord.

Today’s challenge for us is to be agents of harmony. There are plenty of people who will rub us the wrong way, there are plenty of people who we will not particularly like, and there are certainly plenty of people who are different than us. Today we are being challenged to look past that and to see the commonality that we all share together…the commonality of being children of God, made in God’s image. Look past the differences, allow for people to be who they are, and love them as God loves them. Let the harmonizing begin!

THOUGHT OF THE DAY

“Live in harmony with each other. Don’t be too proud to enjoy the company of ordinary people. And don’t think you know it all!” – The Apostle Paul in Romans 12:16

PRAYER

Lord, I pray that I may become an agent of harmony within the communities I am a part of. Amen.

 

Devotional

Let Freedom Ring

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Read Genesis 3

ALSO IN SCRIPTURE
“For you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters; only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for self-indulgence, but through love become slaves to one another. For the whole law is summed up in a single commandment, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” (Galatians 5:13-14)

i_am_freeWhen I was around seventeen or eighteen years old, all I could think of was moving out of the house and living on my own. I wasn’t too naive, and I did realize that to do so I would need to work and have a job; however, I didn’t recognize the full measure of what such freedom would cost me. After all, who really does at that age? Yet, when I moved out of the house, I began to realize that the little bit of independence I gained from my parents took away much of the freedom, especially of personal time, that I previously enjoyed.

When one thinks about it, we often confuse the ideas of independence and freedom as if they are one and the same thing. But are they truly the same thing? Does in independence mean freedom? Does dependence automatically mean a lack thereof? It seems, at least from my experience, that one is not necessarily free just because she or he is independent.

Often times, just like when I was a teenager, we push ourselves from the ones who love and protect us in order to experience independence. During that push we also equally expect to gain more freedom, which we assume will make our lives better. Yet, the truth is that freedom never comes without a cost and independence is sometimes highly overrated.

The people in the Garden of Eden sought their independence from God. When the man and the woman heard that they could attain the knowledge of good and evil, when they learned that they could make decisions for themselves, when they learned that they could claim their own destiny and gain independence, they seized the fruit and the day. Perhaps such seizure can be considered the first sin, or perhaps it was the final, completing act of creation.

Either way one looks at it, people chose to be free to choose right from wrong, good from evil; people chose to be independent from their creator and took the step that each of us takes toward growing up and being responsible for ourselves. Of course, no human being, from the first people to us, seems to have fully mastered this free will; however, our desire to be independent still goes on.

Yet, I believe that the desire of independence can also lead us down a dark and dangerous road. Many people choose to resist being dependent on others (including God) for help and, as a result, find themselves dependent in otherways to compensate for their pride. Many addictions, drug and otherwise, are rooted in the desire to be independent; yet, how independent is an addict, how independent is a person who strokes out because they refused to call 911? No matter how hard we try, we cannot avoid the fact that we are quite dependent.

God wants us to come to the realization that we are still dependent. God wants us to return to a right relationship with each other…one that recognizes our interdependence on those who are our neighbors. God wants us to love and care for our neighbor, just as much as God wants us to recognize our need to be cared for as well.  And it is such a recognition, such a right relationship with God’s creation, that causes us to be in right relationship with God. Rather than fighting for complete and utter independence, let us utilize the freedom that God has given each of us, by God’s grace, to find peace in our dependence of each other and of God. Be dependent in those God has placed in your life, be dependent in God’s grace, and be sustained by the freedom that such dependence brings!

THOUGHT OF THE DAY
“From my own being, and from the dependency I find in myself and my ideas, I do, by an act of reason, necessarily infer the existence of a God, and of all created things in the mind of God.” – George Berkeley

PRAYER
Lord, while I enjoy the amount of independence that is healthy for me, help me to also accept that I am very much dependent on you and on those whom you have placed around me. None of us are alone and, for that graceful gift, I thank you. Amen.