Talks with Merce podcast

WHAT IS THE BOTH/AND???

death AND life. joy AND pain. What does “both/and” really mean? The greatest example is Jesus Christ. Fully man. Fully God. Died so that we may have life. As a kid, lots of people asked me “what are you?” I know they wanted to know what my parents looked like and why I had curly hair and brown skin. Sometimes it was out of curiosity, sometimes it was out of disgust. I remember asking my dad “wait what am I?” and him responding “you are both Black and White and you are a Daughter of God. Your identity is in Jesus.” In our family we say, “things aren’t just Black or White. Look at us!!” People, we are human, broken, looking for ways to organize things and people. Put them in boxes and define each other. We are so much more than our skin color, than our job, than our title, than our address or car. All of us were made in the image of God, the Creator of the world. I say this not because it is easy to understand, it is actually very hard for me to wrap my head around. It is a reminder to you, a reminder to me, that we are all broken and we are beautiful. Both broken and beautiful. At the same time. There is space for each because of the man that walked this earth as God and died so that we may live.