An Old Emergence

There was a time When I wouldn't let my body See the light of day. It was wrong It was less than It was other. Let me introduce you To my acne scars, Reminders of adolescent breakouts That stayed around for too many years as uninvited guests. And here are my stretch marks From gaining weight And losing weight And gaining weight And losing weight And, well, you get the idea. Be careful not to go blind When the light hits my Porcelain skin And it's thick dusting of Ginger hair, but This. Is. My. Body. Those words trickle down Through liturgy and scripture And tradition and maybe They mean more than just Words of institution. Maybe it's time to stop hiding What's going on underneath And wear my scars and my marks And not let what I assume others see Influence what I see. Because my acne scars aren't written Across my face like they Could have been. This. Is. My. Body. My stretch marks tell a story Of how I have failed but ...

Well...not really. Over the last few years, I've written a few posts about the theology of my body and what that means in the greater context of my life and spirituality. The original post I made about the subject, funny enough, was exactly six years ago today. At the time, I tried to string together some disparate ideas on selfhood and exercise so that I could tell people I was starting P90X. Another post was about dancing in church. Another about eating organic food. I think I missed the point each time. I was going somewhere when I wrote about the dualism we often impose on conversations about physicality and spirituality, as though the spirit and the body are separate entities. As I think back over the years of my struggle with weight and body image, I am more convinced than ever that much of my spiritual and emotional well-being is rooted in how I encounter my physicality. In the past, when I've begun a journey toward physical well-being, I have done so divorced f...

A running joke growing up in my old Southern Baptist church was that dancing was somehow evil or taboo. Even in our youth musical one summer, the dialog for the drama included a reference to “rhythmic interpretive movement” instead of dance. Since that time, I have wondered why we were so afraid of incorporating dance into our Sabbath…and I don’t think just assuming no one can dance is good enough reasoning. I did a little research on the matter to see what the Bible had to say. The psalmist is a HUGE fan of the practice, and the Israelites often celebrated their worship with dancing and singing. While we do a great job of lifting our voices in song week to week, we miss out on experiencing the Holy through “rhythmic interpretive movement.” Is it that we’ve labored under this notion that we shouldn’t dance as worship for so long that we’ve forgotten how to do so? Sometimes the Spirit moves in such a way that words and song and stillness are not adequate responses to the pres...

This year for Lent, I am not really focusing on giving anything up. Instead, I am focusing on ways to improve the way I live my life. While there is a definite spiritual component (which I’ll get to), the bulk of my focus is on my physicality. I am being intentional about the way I eat. While there are many different scripture passages that deal with food, I am always drawn to the passage at the end of the sixth chapter of 1 Corinthians: “You must know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is within you – the Spirit you have received from God…So glorify God in your body.” (The Inclusive Bible) This speaks to more than just food, but to fitness, about the body as a whole. It doesn’t point out gluttony or drunkenness. So often those passages are used to call alcohol evil or are twisted to change the meaning of gluttony to focus on material things. So instead of looking at those kinds of scripture, I like that the writer of 1 Corinthians reminds us that our bodi...

A few months ago I wrote a blog entry in response to the idea of our bodies being intrinsic to our individually-claimed theology. It was intended to be the first in a series of related posts. That never really got off the ground, nor did the exercise kick I was planning at the time. But here I am, four months to the day later, in the midst of a renewed interest in my body. I have regularly worked out every day this week, eaten mostly organic and local food, and spent time letting my body rest. In a week’s time, I already feel like a different person. My body feels whole for the first time in a while. By only introducing healthy foods to my body, I am saying to myself that my physical being is of importance. By exercising, I am saying that I believe my body can be stronger. Today I attended my very first Nia class. Nia combines yoga, martial arts, and dance into a mind, body, and spirit exercise experience. Our pastoral intern, Claire, has begun teaching this class regularl...

I've been thinking about my body a lot lately. It is not an exceptional body, mainly because I haven't done a very good job of taking care of it over the majority of my nearly twenty-two years of life. I've been pondering what it means to be created, in essence a part of the created order. In light of these thoughts, I started working out again on Monday. There's this program called P90X that is a very holistic daily workout routine that pushes your body to the edge of the abyss. Yes...that's a bit melodramatic. However, the pain stretching across my body has me constantly aware of my efforts to get my body in a healthy shape. This morning when I looked out my window I saw the overcast skies and saw the dreary rain. While I actually love rainy days, I decided that I didn't want to succumb to the feel of the day. I put on a bright pink shirt and stark white jeans and left my house feeling full of life. Clothes do not make a person, but just like being true to you...