Monday 27 November 2017

Embodied Hope

I’m in a place of tension and it’s bothering me. On the surface, it’s a tension that’s been thrown up by social media. Status updates are by nature reductionist - in order to describe something that’s multi-faceted and integrated, we have to enumerate and disintegrate.  But then we’re left with something that hardly does justice to reality’s largeness. 

So anyway, I posted an update online about combining my two loves: spiritual growth in relationship with others, and health and fitness. And really they sound like two different things, but to me they are the same thing. It’s all about how we grow to be more fully human, and what it even means to be human, and what it means to follow Jesus and see his good reign worked out here on earth. And, well, you know, all of that good stuff.

I read this great quote by the guy who wrote Dwell (I think his name is Barry):”The Christian hope is an embodied hope. That means for us that Christian spirituality is not something experienced merely in the depths of our being, in the deep recesses of our souls. Christian spirituality is experienced in our bodies.” 

"Christian spirituality is experienced in our bodies."

And that’s where I want to go with all this. I want to understand more about what it means that I live towards God’s good future by engaging all of who I am - my mind, my emotions, my relationships, my choices, my habits, my community rituals, of course my spirit. And - since having a body is fundamental to what it means to be human - my body.

It feels like we have to emphasise the body part because it has been left to one side for so long. 

Like, in the context of being Christian at least, we don’t really know what to do about the fact that we have arms and legs, toe nails that need cutting, skin that wrinkles with age, feet that tap with impatience and apparently of their own volition. And genitals. Gosh, let’s not even go there! So we’ve made our spiritual life about all the other-worldly stuff, and assigned our bodies to the very real world in which we live.

I think that's why those who are not believers have so much more to say - good and bad - about being embodied. And I think it's why we have Christian leaders who are such an example in so many areas, yet have bodies that are crying out to be cared for. And I don’t mean by another packet of M&Ms.

But here’s the thing. When we emphasise the body to try to redress the balance, it’s so easy to lose the central focus. We elevate the body so easily. For sure, when it comes to change related to our bodies, we tend to leave God out of it almost entirely and rely on our will and self-discipline alone. (Except when injury or illness causes us to face our own mortality, perhaps. And then we cry out for God’s intervention because suddenly we are aware that what we thought we had control over doesn’t feel so certain anymore.)

I feel like it would be so easy for me to get carried away with the physical side of all this. Of course, I have always loved sport and physical activity. It feels like it’s hard-wired into who I am and I get energy by being active. I guess - I hope - I will always be that way ... one of those wrinkly old ladies who are still running marathons at 86 years old! You see, for me physical activity is also an opportunity for connecting relationally with others. Tim and I have always felt most connected when we run together, or hike a mountain. So it feels like an overflow of who I am to share that with others, to encourage them in their healthy habits and to champion them in the good nurturing of their bodies.

But I don’t want it to all be about that! I don’t want to become someone who talks about diets and weight-loss, exercise programs and nutritional supplements, and fails to keep all of this firmly rooted in the context of becoming more fully the people we’ve been created to be, allowing Holy Spirit to empower us to make good choices in our bodies. Not as the end goal but as an integral part of what it means to be God-filled people on earth.

I’m not at all saying that God’s intention is for us to become some kind of super-race. You know, taller and more chiseled than the average Joe. Able to lift burning cars off frightened toddlers, and all that. No! Physical limitations are also integral to our experience of being human but Bonhoeffer was onto something when he said that “man’s body is not his prison, his shell, his exterior, but man himself. His body belongs to his essential being. Man does not ‘have’ a body; he does not ‘have’ a soul; rather he ‘is’ body and soul.”

If I am my body and my body is me, I am going to think about it differently, right? 

There is a kind of self-love, or self-respect, that is the sign of someone who is living into their true identity. A sort of honouring of the body without elevating it. Is it even possible, through living reflectively and intentionally, to come to a place of such integration that we can learn to live that way and see it as part of our Christian spirituality? I don’t know. I hope so, I am searching for that ...

Where I care for my body as a way of acknowledging the gift that it is, and I do that by receiving the help of Holy Spirit so that I think and chose in relation to my body in ways that are good ... And I submit all that I will be for others, through my physical presence that day, to God ... And I consciously trust him for safety and wholeness, while recognising that physical vulnerability is part of the deal ... And I experience God’s presence and delight in his creation by growing in awareness and engaging all five physical senses in seeking him ... And when I slip into vanity and self-reliance, I’m sensitive to a bit of course-correction so that I can live in this body the humble way I was meant to.

Is it even possible, through living reflectively and intentionally, to come to a place of such integration that we learn to honour the body without elevating it, and see it as part of our Christian spirituality?

Call me an idealist. The odds sure are stacked against this dream. But I’m holding out for the integrating power of a kind of multi-faceted relational reality that includes not just my heart and my soul, but my mind and my body too. Pretty sure Facebook won't be able to handle it - but could you?!

No comments:

Post a Comment