The -Ness of Being Human

"It seems like," one of the high school girls marks it in brown ink on the edge of the verse that we are using for a corporate meditation, "living in the flesh goes from a state of action and a state of mind to more of a -ness."

I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

Crucified with Christ. The way that the thieves on the crosses were crucified with Him. Crucified with a God-man who gave Himself - betrayed Himself - for me.

Living. Still in this body. But in such a very different way.

Four simple letters of explanation. The blueness of the sky. The flesh-ness of being human.

This idea that our flesh-ness is simply another attribute. Another Adjective. My eyes have brownness. My heart courageousness. My body slenderness. My soul timelessness.

None of these things are the entirety of who I am, even the entirety of that aspect of my being. My eyes are also white and black. Flecked with shades of color. Nearsighted. Contact wearing. They squint up when I laugh or smile. Skim quickly over pages of text.

My eyes have brownness. But, they are so much more than brownness.

Nerves and cells, rods and cones, a hundred little intricacies of DNA and genetics that come together to produce this -ness.

And, yet, this -ness will never be all that I am.

This flesh-ness is an attribute rather than an identity.

And, there is Grace in that.

Curl up close. Scream to the stars. Dance in the foyer, Grace. Because, if I am more than the sum total of my parts, then so are you. So are we all.

A muddle of attributes. Fears. Joys. Quirky ways of dealing with emotion. Silent languages. Favorite foods. Proud moments and regrets.

The -ness that resides along with Christ in us.

Sometimes fallenness. Sometimes holiness. Always human.

And, it makes space for the everyday Holy, the mundane that whispers, "Holy." Doesn't shout it. Doesn't sing it the way that we will someday. Someday, when the -ness is transformed and we suddenly look like Jesus.

Instead, it whispers.

Through elementary school hallways filled with costumed kiddos and middle schoolers who want to serve, want to play, want to be.

Through carmel apples in the church kitchen and forgetting to care who's winning the game. Youth group schedules that we make up on the fly and running hunched over through mazes designed for much smaller people.

Half formed conversations. Unexplained tears.

Rain and sunshine and brilliant gaps in the clouds. Fog and wind and imaginations that can take us to places that we have never been, send us on grand adventures across the globe and remind us that stairs can be made for running up.

This is Holy.

This is the -ness of being human.