#138 Thinking about bodies--yours, mine and His

I’ve been thinking about bodies this Christmas season, a time we remember that God took on flesh and dwelled among us. These bodies fail us. I have a good friend wasting away from an eating disorder and a cousin who shot herself to death this week; I have another friend losing her sight from a piece of plaque that broke loose and went to her eye; another friend is in rehabilitation for a fractured pelvis; everyday my sister and I compare our aches and pains as we increasingly don‘t recognize our own aging bodies.

The Christian faith puts great stock in the physical body. We are told in the Bible our bodies are God’s temple, that God knew our tiny physical bodies while we were still in the womb, and we are told to take care of others’ physical bodily needs, too. The biggest reminder of the importance of the body is Jesus’ bodily resurrection--the tomb was empty and he‘d defeated death. And that's his plan for you and me, too.

I found this very nice prayer about bodies, which I’d like to share:

“A Prayer Lord Jesus, we praise you and thank you for all the blessings of this life, including the blessing of our bodies. We rejoice in our bodies, the wondrous way that we are put together, the complexity and grace of our physical selves. Forgive us when we abuse the good gift of our bodies, especially forgive us when we abuse the bodies of others.

We praise you . . . for the wonder of the resurrection of Jesus from the dead and for the promise that, by your grace, we also shall be raised. Help us to live today as those who know that great promise and live today in the light of it, following our risen Lord toward eternal life. Amen