Humans are Both/And

When I was working through the Women Speak of God class, I was particularly impressed by George Harkness.  Her view of faith is so interesting, but so is her view of human nature. I've always see the paradoxes in how we see Jesus, but she talks about the paradoxes of human nature, and for me, they made a lot of sense. 

Looking Harkness’ list:

• Humans are both nature and spirit – I think in church we are often more concerned with spirit for our members and with nature (the needs of the body) when working to serve those outside the church. We don’t talk much about the connection between body and spirit in the church, and while we are comfortable providing food for children and meals for the homeless, we don’t talk to them much about spiritual needs. I know we need to make sure someone is fed – no doubt – but do we go any farther than that?
• Humans are both free and bound – Do we think much about human limitations?  We are quick to judge, but slower to remember the stresses placed on people by work, family life, health, etc. We don’t talk much about time management or self care.  We are, thankfully, forgiven of our sin, and can find the assurance of that freedom, but we are also limited.
• Humans are both children of God and sinners – I’m glad we do speak often – in education and in worship – about people as children of God. We don’t speak much about people as sinners, though. One of the things that connects this piece of human nature to Wesley for me is that he recognized that we are always sinners. We are working toward perfection in love through God's grace, but we need to learn to trust God more and continue to reach for grace.
• Humans are both transient and eternal – We might miss this one entirely. We very rarely talk about death in church (I mean, what better place would there be?), and we don’t often think about life eternal.  Funerals – that is the only place we seem to tackle this paradox.