In her novel "The Parable of the Sower," American author and pioneer in the science fiction genre, Octavia Butler, wrote: "God is Change. Beware: God exists to shape and be shaped." God's earliest works in the Bible indicate a passion for collaboration. God creates the world and finally creates humans in God's own image. God then tasks the humans with naming all of the animals that had been created, collaborating with us on this first major project.  Though God's principles are always rooted in what is life-giving, God's strategies and maneuvers shift throughout time.  If I'm being honest, I think that God is able to change more easily and more readily than we are.

In scripture, each time we see a change in God's heart and mind, God's invitation gets wider; God pulls more chairs up to the infinitely growing table.  In the gospel passage we'll hear on Sunday morning, Jesus breathes onto the disciples.  In sharing Jesus' breath, we are brought to life by the Holy Spirit, which frees us to let go of our fear and hesitation in the face of change and collaborate with God by embracing our own humanity, the humanity of all people, and the life-giving Divine - the Holy Spirit - that lives and moves in each of us.