Ordinary Time

Pause

To be human is an incredible gift. At times we feel like we are on top of the world ready to conquer anything. Other times we feel so worn down and tired that we cannot take another step.

Remember that no matter what, we are God’s creation. God created us strong, capable, full of love, and easy to hurt.

So pause for a moment today and think about how to care for yourself and the lives around you with faithful love, grace, and understanding.

Listen

God didn’t put the world that is coming (the world we are talking about) under the angels’ control. Instead, someone declared somewhere,

What is humanity that you think about them? Or what are the human beings that you care about them? For a while you made them lower than angels. You crowned the human beings with glory and honor. You put everything under their control.

When he puts everything under their control, he doesn’t leave anything out of control. But right now, we don’t see everything under their control yet.

Hebrews 2:5-8

Think

This passage is a bit confusing. It references Psalm 8, which says humans are in control, but then the Hebrews text says that humans are not in control yet. It also asks, “What is humanity that you think about them?,” which sounds like humans aren’t worthy of God’s thoughts. Hmmm… this does not look good for us humans.

The author of Hebrews connects the Psalm to the coming of Christ, who would ultimately rule as the King of kings and Lord of lords. As Christians, we ground our being and faith in the life of Jesus Christ, who was FULLY human and FULLY divine.

Fully human — hey, that’s just like us! Jesus was a person with skin, eyes, bones, hair, heart, and soul.

The truth is that humanity is entirely worth God’s thoughts, so much so that God sent Jesus to be among us and to be just like us. Christ is ruler of all creation, and we’ve been asked to tend it in his absence on earth. Glory to God and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, who guides us in this task.

Ashley Lytle

Pray

God, ruler of all creation, you sent your only son to be among us and to live with us. Grant me wisdom to know the magnitude of your generosity, and give me the strength to glorify you even in my mere humanity. Through Christ our Lord, amen.

Go

Go and bask in God’s creation;

Go and open your eyes to see what lives, breathes, swirls, and twirls around you;

Go and care for the people you love and for those you do not yet love;

Go and ask for help;

Go and show God’s glory through your incredible humanity!