Luke 6:17-26
“Resurrected/Bodies”
Preached Sunday, February 13, 2022
We are going to do something a little different today - it might make you uncomfortable but I pray you are open to the experience. We are going to do a breathing and mindfulness exercise around our bodies:
The purpose of this exercise is to enter into a prayerful, relaxed state in which we bring our whole selves, our body and spirit, into the presence of God.
We begin this exercise by thinking about our bodies, becoming mindful of the way we think about our body that we live in. How we think about it, imagine it, talk to ourselves about it.
What do you think or notice about your body?
How does that affect your emotions? Do you feel love? Gratitude? Frustration? Loathing?
Our bodies and our emotions toward them are complicated. Each of us is on a journey, our bodies are our constant companions as well as our vehicles. We need to be regularly reminded that our bodies, in whatever shape, form, condition they may be in, are gifts from God and God cares about our bodily experiences.
And so begin by getting comfortable. As comfortable as you can be in a pew or whatever chair you’re in if you’re watching from home. Scootch around a bit, find the right spot, settle in.
Close your eyes and turn your attention toward your body. If your thoughts begin to wander, listen to my voice and bring your attention back toward yourself.
Take a deep breath through your abdomen, feel your stomach and chest expand, hold it for a few moments… exhale slowly.
Again… in…and out.
As you breathe, notice your stomach rising and your lungs filling with air.
As you exhale, imagine the tension in your body being released and flowing away.
Inhale…and exhale.
Feel your body already relaxing.
Now, as you continue breathing, tune into your body. Notice how your body feels. Mindfully scan your body from top to bottom. Take note of areas that you are grateful for. Areas that cause you pain. Areas you are still learning to love.
Breathe in…and out.
Now imagine God bending down in the dirt and shaping your body out of clay.
Imagine yourself being shaped in the hands of God.
Your body, knit intricately together, God breathing the breath of the Divine into you.
Take some time to consider your own thoughts and ideas about your body. Do they match with the image of God lovingly forming you?
When you think about your body, are you feeling comfortable, uncomfortable, satisfied, dissatisfied...Whatever you are feeling, it’s ok, let yourself feel. Hand that feeling over to God in prayer, imagine yourself placing it and your whole body in God’s hands.
Imagine yourself being held by God, in your body, as it is, enveloped, embraced, loved. Imagine God caring for you, in your body as it is.
What might it be like to feel at peace with our bodies, to feel gratitude toward God, to thank God every day for our bodies?
You begin to see yourself as the wonderful creation of God that you are, as you are.
Breathe in…and out.
Give thanks to God for all the wonderful things your body does for you. How it rejuvenates you when you need energy, how it relaxes you when you need rest.
Now repeat after me:
I was created by God. (I was created by God.)
God loves all of me. (God loves all of me.)
And that includes my body. (And that includes my body.)
Thanks be to God for the gift of my body. (Thanks be to God for the gift of my body.)
Breathe in…and out.
Breathe in…and out.
Slowly begin to turn your attention back to your environment.
May you continue to feel embodied and grateful.
Slowly open your eyes and stretch your body.
(This ends the exercise.)
I took the time to do this in church today because I think that many of us have been taught or told - explicitly or implicitly - that our bodies are not good. That there is the Spirit - and then there is the Body - and the Body is bad - it’s the thing that leads us into temptation, that causes us to stumble - some churches and pastors have even gone as far to call the body evil. And we have seen the detrimental effect this has on people - body and spirit. And honestly, I think this is a misinterpretation of Paul and much of the New Testament. There is no denying that having a body is complicated, and messy, and, well, a journey with ups and downs. But God created us, made humans, embodied humans, looked at us and said “It is very good.” And then God in the form of Jesus, took on flesh. God had a body, a body like you and me - a complicated, messy body, on a journey with ups and downs.
And, this part is really important: Not only did God take on flesh, embodied God in the form of a baby Jesus…God was also resurrected with a body.
We know this from the resurrection accounts. His resurrection body might have been different - although it still carried the marks of his crucifixion. And, it was a body. Jesus ate with his disciples. They touched him.
Jesus could have come back as a disembodied spirit - but he didn’t. He had a resurrection body.
And as Christians who claim the resurrection of Jesus, we are also claiming the resurrection of the body for us. That Jesus was but the first fruit of the resurrection and one day all of creation will be made new - a new heaven and a new earth - AND, new, resurrected bodies for each of us.
We don’t know exactly what this will look like. We don’t know how it will function or how it will be done - but that’s faith. We believe in it. Those bodies may still have some of the scars of this life - as Jesus carried his scars after his resurrection. And, we know that in the new heaven and new earth there will be no more tears, no more pain, no more death.
So often we picture the next life as floating spirits on clouds - and again, maybe until the new creation it does look like that - I don’t know. We don’t know. If anyone says they do know I would seriously wonder, um, HOW. That’s God-level stuff.
What we do know is this, as we read in today’s Scripture:
Christ was raised from the dead.
Christ is the first fruit of those who have died.
So…what does this all mean for us, here and now?
Three things:
One - Be kinder to yourself when it comes to your body and all its ups and downs. Take time to breathe deeply and thank God for the gift of your body.
Two - Being grateful for our bodies is not to negate our current pain and struggles we experience in our bodies.
The Gospel reading from Luke today began with “They had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases…”
Living in a body means disease and illness and pain and discomfort. And for some it means those things more than others. Why? We simply don’t know. What we do know is that Jesus cares about the plights of our bodies. One of the hallmarks of Jesus’s ministry was that he was a healer. He saw people’s pain. He saw their diseases. He saw that which held them back - and Jesus touched them or spoke and they were healed.
The Scripture continues with the blessings and the woes and in there he talks about those who are poor - and there is no doubt that being poor negatively affects your body - and he talks about those who are hungry - a bodily condition - and he talks of those who weep - again, grief and sadness are a deeply embodied experience…
In short, it is evidently clear through the ministry of Jesus: his actions and words, that he cared about the human body. And he still does.
Whatever you are going through in your body, Jesus cares. Jesus is with you on this journey. May you feel his presence with you, may you turn to him in trust and prayer.
And finally three - There is hope for us that have bodies. And that hope is not that one day we won’t have bodies - that hope is that one day we will share in the resurrection of Jesus in the new creation where there is no tears, pain, or death.
And as Christians who claim the resurrection of Jesus, we are also claiming the resurrection of the body for us. That Jesus was but the first fruit of the resurrection and one day all of creation will be made new - a new heaven and a new earth - AND, new, resurrected bodies for each of us.
We don’t know exactly what this will look like. We don’t know how it will function or how it will be done - but that’s faith. We believe in it. Those bodies may still have some of the scars of this life - as Jesus carried his scars after his resurrection. And, we know that in the new heaven and new earth there will be no more tears, no more pain, no more death.
So often we picture the next life as floating spirits on clouds - and again, maybe until the new creation it does look like that - I don’t know. We don’t know. If anyone says they do know I would seriously wonder, um, HOW. That’s God-level stuff.
What we do know is this, as we read in today’s Scripture:
Christ was raised from the dead.
Christ is the first fruit of those who have died.
So…what does this all mean for us, here and now?
Three things:
One - Be kinder to yourself when it comes to your body and all its ups and downs. Take time to breathe deeply and thank God for the gift of your body.
Two - Being grateful for our bodies is not to negate our current pain and struggles we experience in our bodies.
The Gospel reading from Luke today began with “They had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases…”
Living in a body means disease and illness and pain and discomfort. And for some it means those things more than others. Why? We simply don’t know. What we do know is that Jesus cares about the plights of our bodies. One of the hallmarks of Jesus’s ministry was that he was a healer. He saw people’s pain. He saw their diseases. He saw that which held them back - and Jesus touched them or spoke and they were healed.
The Scripture continues with the blessings and the woes and in there he talks about those who are poor - and there is no doubt that being poor negatively affects your body - and he talks about those who are hungry - a bodily condition - and he talks of those who weep - again, grief and sadness are a deeply embodied experience…
In short, it is evidently clear through the ministry of Jesus: his actions and words, that he cared about the human body. And he still does.
Whatever you are going through in your body, Jesus cares. Jesus is with you on this journey. May you feel his presence with you, may you turn to him in trust and prayer.
And finally three - There is hope for us that have bodies. And that hope is not that one day we won’t have bodies - that hope is that one day we will share in the resurrection of Jesus in the new creation where there is no tears, pain, or death.
Until that day, let us give thanks to God for the gift of our bodies.
Thanks be to God. Amen.
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