Body positive

 

1 Corinthians 12: 12-31a
New Ark United Church of Christ, Newark, DE
January 16, 2022

Long before the apostle Paul likened the Church to the human body, a Hindu creation story gave rise to the caste system using the body of Purusha, a celestial being. Purusha’s eye became the sun, their brain became the moon. From Purusha’s mouth the Brahmins or priests were created. From the arms, the Kshatriyas, or warriors. The Vaishyas or peasant/merchant class were crafted from the thighs and the Shudras or servants were made from the legs. In ancient Chinese culture the mother goddess Nü Wa out of her loneliness sculpted human beings from yellow clay, and these became the aristocracy because they had been made by her own hands. But the process was tiring and time-consuming, so the rest of humanity, the lower classes, was mass-produced by dragging a string through the mud. Bodies and how we think of them inform so much about how we behave and organize ourselves.



Even though we have Paul’s mostly egalitarian treatise, in our speech we still create a hierarchy in an organizational body. It’s better to be the brains of any outfit rather than the brawn, to be the head rather than a foot soldier. Even though Paul speaks of honoring the weaker or hidden parts of the body as indispensable, we use words and phrases like “lame” or “limping along” when an organization is not performing to our expectations. When someone hasn’t been paying attention to what’s going on, we say they are tone deaf. When times are bad, we call it our darkest hour. Like Paul, we assume that all the body parts are intact and in working order and when they’re not, bodies are judged and treated as less than. Today we call that ableism.

Empire is inherently ableist and extremely exhausting. Social justice engineer and attorney Talila Lewis (who uses no gender pronouns) defines ableism as “[a] system that places value on people’s bodies and minds based on societally constructed ideas of normality, intelligence, excellence, desirability, and productivity. These constructed ideas are deeply rooted in anti-Blackness, eugenics, misogyny, colonialism, imperialism and capitalism. This form of systemic oppression leads to people and society determining who is valuable and worthy based on a person’s language, appearance, religion and/or their ability to satisfactorily [re]produce, excel and ‘behave’.” Talila concludes with “You do not have to be disabled to experience ableism.”



What if God was a fat, disabled, queer, transgender person of color with PTSD? How would that affect our faith, our ability to find ourselves in God’s image? How would it affect our prayers? Our ideas about healing, liberation and wholeness would change.*  Healing would have more to do with care and community and the celebration of differences. Liberation would be free wheelchair ramps and safe sidewalks, all-gender accessible bathrooms in every building, text that describes an image on social media, subtitles in movie theaters, mental healthcare for everyone. Wholeness would become not only welcoming but including and valuing a person just as they are, with housing and healthcare and a living wage for all.

What if we took the song “The World Is in God’s Hands” and replaced the word “hands” with other parts of the body?



The world is in God’s mouth, which is our mouth, which is God’s mouth.



The world is in God’s skin, which is our skin, which is God’s skin.



The world is in God’s womb, which is our womb, which is God’s womb.



The world is in God’s blood, which is our blood, which is God’s blood.



The world is in God’s gut, which is our gut, which is God’s gut.



The world is in God’s heart, which is our heart, which is God’s heart.



The world is in God’s breath, which is our breath, which is God’s breath.

And justice will come when it is embodied in us.

It might have been Teresa of Avila who said that “Christ has no body now but yours. No hands, no feet on earth but yours. Yours are the eyes through which he looks compassion on this world. Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good. Yours are the hands through which he blesses all the world. Yours are the hands, yours are the feet, yours are the eyes, you are his body. Christ has no body now on earth but yours.” Yes, it’s ableist but the last part is still true. Christ has no body now on earth but yours. Your body. Your body in all its glory. Your body just as it is. And the body of Christ is richer for it.



And this body, the New Ark United Church of Christ, just as we are. We are God’s hips and knees and nose and mouth and tongue, God’s womb and testes and breasts and skin, God’s blood and gut and heart. It’s not about how many members but all the members being one body, having the same care for one another. A body of all genders and no gender, all colors, all abilities, poor bodies, trans bodies, tired bodies, isolated bodies, sick bodies, aching to be together bodies.

And we are no less Church, no less a body by being online. We call gathering or worshiping in-person “real church”, but we have always continued to be real church, just in different ways. It may not feel the same sometimes but that doesn’t make it any less real, especially for those whose only option is to participate online. Making church accessible for all is how we have the same care for one another.



Paul also wrote to the Corinthians some words about love, good words to keep in mind as we care for this body called Church.



Love never gives up.
Love cares as much for others as for self.
Love doesn’t want what it doesn’t have.
Love doesn’t strut,
Doesn’t have a swelled head,
Doesn’t force itself on others,
Isn’t always “me first,”
Doesn’t fly off the handle,
Doesn’t keep score of the sins of others,
Doesn’t revel when others grovel,
Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,
Love bears all things,
Trusts God always,
Always looks for the best,
Never looks back,
But keeps going forward.
Love never ends.
– 1 Corinthians 13: 4-8a, The Message (adapted)


Amen.

*Imagining God in this way would also change how we view power, which is what ableism and empire are all about.  Apologies that I did not think of this until Sunday evening.

Benediction – enfleshed.com


Thanks be to God for every individual body
that makes this shared body so full of wonder.

In Christ, it is declared:
Every body is a good body.

Every body is worthy of protection.

Every body holds divine wisdom.
In our shared and sacred power,
we are sent to go and make it so -
to build together communities of care and justice,
where every body is cherished and safe. 

Amen.