Vulnerability is a hellish word to type.
A friend and training partner (well, okay, she outranks me) over at Sun Dragon writes a regular column on self defense and women over at McSweeney's that she calls Bitchslap: A Column About Women and Fighting. And it's always a rewarding read when she comes out with a new one. Her latest is something of a meditation on the vulnerability (there it is again) of the human body and the really unfortunate fact that there are so many folks out there who like to take advantage of those vulnerabilities for their own power and gain. She's cynical, sarcastic and funny and she uses those powers to consider vulnerability in terms of Jesus and his becoming human and Christmas all wrapped up in a healthy dose of what in the hell was he thinking when he agreed to be human?
The natural readership of this article are the kids who are skeptical, those wacky atheists, or just the plain irreverent types like me who love a good twisting of a traditional story for non-traditional purposes. But for any of you out there in the Christian camp with a thicker than average skin, you might find it interesting as well, a nice little push into the deep end of thinking about the full ramifications of the incarnation. Sure, we've all had the occasional giggle about Jesus and the more scatological aspects of being human, but I think if you're going to believe that your God became man and dwelt among us, it's a good exercise to keep in mind what all that entails, Tidings of Comfort and, Uh,:
I grew up reciting the Nicene creed, which relates how Christ came down from heaven, and after some not entirely clear interaction between the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary (the Second Ecumenical Council was pretty vague about it), he became man. I've often wondered if Jesus really knew what he was getting into when he signed up for this. It must have been something like having your dad tell you he's buying you a new car for graduation, and it turns out to be a Pontiac Sunbird. I don't know about you, but I'd be pissed.