Notes from Session #2

After sharing a dilectable lunch prepared by Wendy and Sophia, we watched the "Who is Jesus?" video which offered a variety of perspectives and testimonies about Jesus. We then began to discuss the statements that were resonant and meaningful for us, and to articulate our own statements about Jesus. Here are the "newsprint notes:"

--"the ultimate human being"
--His humanity offers our humanity possibility
--Jesus is the antidote to our self-excuses: " I'm just human!"
--Jesus is the transformer
--folks connected with several speakers who asserted that there is divine in all of us.
--"God wants to be alive in us"
--Roy Sano's statement recognizing that "Jesus is different than me" (behaviorally) offered the possibility of seeing wonderful human qualities in Jesus that (by grace) we just might discover in ourselves!!
--Some were astounded by Rabbi Kushner's statement that through Jesus God becomes the universal God! Also that, in his passion, crucifixion, and resurrection, Jesus embodies a God who does not always control human events.
-- Jesus invites us to wholeness.
-- In the Acts of the Apostles, the faith community born of Jesus' resurrection is not initially called the church: It is called ""The Way." It is indeed "on the way" that we are transformed.
Here we are referencing an inspired movement, not an institution.
--Jesus doesn't give up on anyone.
--God is the ultimate Parent.
--When we considered that Jesus has many different titles (McAfee Brown in particular spoke about this), I asked which title Jesus used most frequently to talk about himself. Several folks correctly identified "The Son of Man." This could also translated "The Human One." Our friend, the Bible Scholar Michael Hardin, translates this title as "The True Human."

Our discussions included significant, and often vulnerable, sharing. We grappled with what it means to affirm Jesus' divinity and humanity as inseparable (God meets humanity in him). Some of us articulated the need to relate to Jesus as transcendent even while being touched at a deeply human level. Additionally, some of us have experienced the Jesus of the gospels in a very different way than what we were initially told about him in our churches and by other folk. This has been freeing.
Perhaps each of you can continue your own reflections, and try to articulate your own answer (perhaps an ever-growing one) to: Who is Jesus? A suggestion: Dare to write it down!