Honoring the Body

Homeless Jesus by Timothy Schmalz

This week our journey through spiritual practices takes us to one many would hardly consider “spiritual,” namely honoring the body. Our reflection on the practice will extend beyond Sunday morning worship. Beginning Sunday evening, and continuing through Wednesday, Seneca Presbyterian is hosting a Vacation Bible School for adults. The tradition of VBS is so rich that we believe it should not be limited to children. Our adult VBS is a bit different. It’s in the evening and not the morning. It’s for adults and not children. And its focus is on healthy living.

We’ll learn about lifestyle and how it impacts our brains, particularly our brain’s susceptibility for strokes, Parkinson’s disease, and Alzheimer’s. In that light, we will welcome Dr. Lotta Granholm of the Medical University of South Carolina as she educates us about healthy brains. As the week goes on, we’ll talk about diet, exercise, and stress reduction. We’ll see a demonstration of Tai Chi and yoga. We’ll eat healthy meals and enjoy a few laughs. Most importantly, we’ll show the world that we are a church who cares about bodies and the gift they represent from God.

When you stop to consider, honoring the body is one of the most profound spiritual practices for Christians. We believe God became incarnate – God took on human flesh – in Jesus of Nazareth. Such an idea is unique to Christianity among all the world’s faith traditions. It stands at the heart of our faith and our understanding of salvation. It should impact all our living. For though we do not worship the body, we believe the body is good and holy and blessed by God.

Yet we live in a world that does worship the body. In our world, beauty sells. In our world, sports are king. Sleek, beautiful, trim, strong, fast, agile, healthy bodies are adored – and we spend a-lot of time and money and stress trying to get and keep them that way. Of course, much of that is good. Healthy bodies help us live faithful lives. They are not as prone to disease, and disease is a tremendous burden to so many.

But we also pay a steep price for our worship. It is a price we see in the exploitation of human bodies, in the diseases of anorexia and bulimia, and in lowered self esteem that may not have a physical manifestation but extracts a tremendous cost from our spiritual and emotional lives. I can remember the exact moment when, as a child, I learned the world would judge me by my physical appearance. It is a lesson that stays with me always.

            As we gather for worship this Sunday at Seneca Presbyterian, the sermon text will be from John chapter 13: Jesus washing the feet of the disciples. We’ll see how that act of physical touch embodied sacred community and invited us into a deeper relationship with God. We’ll also learn from a surprising source, the actor Dustin Hoffman. I hope you’ve seen the clip from the American Film Institute where he shares so powerfully the profound and life changing insight that came to him from making the movie Tootsie.  Dustin Hoffman. Tootsie. AFI

            We live in a world that worships bodies. We serve a God who blesses bodies and makes them sacred gifts for serving God in the world.  We will explore that dichotomy this Sunday!