"Human" | Reflection by Micah Luce (Vestry Class of 2022)

Perhaps we are most human when we are most earthy. I don’t necessarily mean “crunchy-granola-hippie” (though maybe there’s something to that…), but I do mean that our existence of being human is tied deeply to this earth. The Hebrew word for human relates to the idea of being “from the ground.” Genesis 2:7 says, “Now the Lord God formed the human (h’adam) from the dust of the ground (h’adamah).” In this season of lent, we do well to remember our physical connection to the earth.

I recall being taught in the church of my youth that to be a better version of the human I was supposed to be, I would have less “earthiness” to me: I should rise above the trappings of “the world” and, more often than not, reject the physical in favor of the spiritual. Yet we have a God who did nearly the opposite, rejecting solely the realm the spiritual and choosing to fully become a part of the physical (h’adamah). Jesus chose birth (Luke 2.7), growth (Luke 2.40), weariness (John 4.6), thirst (John 19.28), hunger (Matt 4.2), tears (John 12.27), physical weakness (Matt 4.11), and death (Luke 23.46). Even in his resurrected state he chose a physical, earthy body (Luke 24.39, John 20.20, 27). 

Prayer for today: Lord, let me not think that to be earthy discounts my spiritual experience. It may be that my deepest point of connection to you is found in the ground.  After all, I share the same ball of dirt on which you chose to live. Thank you for being human like me. Amen.

Words in the Wilderness - Walk through the season of Lent with Trinity, one word at a time. Every day (except on Sundays) we will post a photo and a brief refection written by someone in our Trinity community. https://www.trinitynewhaven.org/words-in-the-wilderness