It’s because of the “We” that I’m in.
The message of Jesus, expressed across time from Genesis to Revelation, champions the “We” of community with God, and community with each other.
From the small “i” of individuality within the “We” of eternal community, we chose the capital “I” of Individualism.
The falling.
Then, it recognizes that we ultimately don’t have the power to attain the “We” with our own altruism and effort – that we are “bent” as Shaeffer put it, toward the “I.” We need and indwelling Presence and outdwelling Mover to recover Edenic community.
I think Eden is what the best of human beings are after. We want to return to life as it was meant to be.
History tells us that our greatest efforts toward goodness and righting the world seem powerless among the waves of human desire and self-preservation.
FirstCreation, to FirstAdam, to NewAdam, to CrossRighting, to ResurrectionLife, to NewCreation.
I can’t find another human/divine story as compelling, addressing the darks and lights, the suffering and joy, the leaves and the life, the space and the spark, the woman and the man, the hate and the love, the flesh and the bone, the heart and the mind – as this one.