God and Humanity

As you know, our church has lay leaders that lead a morning prayer service on the 2nd, 4th and 5th (if we have them) Sundays of the month.  (Insert shameless plug inviting anyone who would like to attend to join us )  Well, yesterday's reflection (this takes the place of a sermon) comes from Rev. G. Cole Gruberth, and fascinated me with regard to the relationship of God and humanity:

If John’s teaching or the teaching of Jesus or of the priests themselves were solely and unambiguously a matter of channeling God’s will, everyone would recognize its divine origin. The human teacher would be nothing but a mouthpiece for God, but would become less human for being so. On the other hand, if John or Jesus or the priests were acting only from their own human understanding, their teaching about God would lack any special authority.


By leaving his own question unanswered, Jesus suggests that doing God’s will requires a human being in relationship with the divine. If our work is based on an arrogant claim of our own authority, it can’t long remain true to God’s will. But neither does God require that we minimize our own humanity in order to do God’s work in the world. We are fallible creatures trying to teach and heal and love other fallible creatures, and perhaps our humility in teaching, healing, and loving is a more essential ingredient than our authority ever could be.

This would suggest that while, as many non-believers state, religion is a man-made creation, it still receives its authority from the divine, and our acts of faith are what matter.  Thoughts for contemplation...