Our Sunday Message

Embodied Spirituality: 1 Corinthians 6:12-20
Rev. Dr. Kenneth A. Corr
January 15, 2006
Second Sunday After Epiphany

   Listen again to the words of the apostle Paul:
  “The body is meant . . . for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.”
  “Your bodies are members of Christ.”
  “Your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit.”
  “Glorify God in your body.”
  Did you bring your body with you to worship this morning? Take your hands and rub them on your trousers or your skirt and feel the texture of your clothes. Put your feet firmly on the floor and feel them firmly planted. Close your eyes and take a deep cleansing breath. . . Let it out slowly. . . What do you feel in your body? Is your shoulder tight? Is your stomach growling? Do you feel the arthritis in your hand?   Open your eyes and look around the room. What colors do you see? Bring your body into the room and into the worship of God.
  The Orthodox church does better than we in bringing the body into worship. Their sanctuary is filled with brilliantly painted icons and incense is used to create the distinct smell of worship. In his book, The Future of Protestant Worship, Ronald Byars tells about the church he attended as a youth. He says, “It was a nice church, a well-kept building, large and attractive. But it had a distinctive odor about it. It smelled different from any other place I knew; different from home, different from school, different from the dime store or the drive-in. It smelled like old hymnals and old, unused Sunday school curriculum.”1 When I read that, I knew exactly what he was describing. For better or worse, our spiritual lives cannot be separated from our physical bodies. We don’t leave our body at the door when we come to worship. Our Lord not only claims our wills, our thoughts, our emotions, our spirits, but also our bodies. Paul says, “Therefore, glorify God in your body.”
  It is ordinary time in the Christian calendar. It refers to the time between the festivals when things return to ordinary. Most of our lives are lived between the festivals, which is another way of saying that most of life is very ordinary. But for the Christian, even the most ordinary parts of life are sacred because of the presence of God. What is more ordinary than our bodies?
  The apostle Paul, writing to the church at Corinth, reminds us that our body, with all of its appetites, needs, and functions, is a gift from God and intended to glorify God. We experience and serve God with our very ordinary body. But, the apostle warns that our bodily appetites, needs, and functions, can also be a way of denying God. So, how do we develop an embodied spirituality?
  There were some in the church at Corinth who wanted to live without boundaries. Their motto was, “All things are lawful for me.” The contemporary expression is, “If it feels good, do it.” They also had a motto that said, “Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food.” In his commentary of this text, Victor Paul Furnish says, “These Corinthians seem to have been ecstatics, convinced that they were gifted with a spirituality that in effect lifted them above the worldly and the physical.”2 It was an attitude of license and freedom to indulge their natural appetites, needs, and desires, a form of Christian hedonism.
  Before we are too harsh in our judgment of these early Christians, we need to remember that they may have actually gotten this idea from Paul. It was Paul who had insisted that we are no longer under the law. In reality, there was some truth to what they were saying. Christian freedom removes us from the tyranny of rules and regulations. But Paul recognized there was also danger in what they were saying. Where is the balance?
  “All things are lawful for me.” “Yes,” Paul answered, “. . . but not all things are beneficial.” “All things are lawful for me.” “Yes,” Paul answered, “. . . but I will not be dominated by anything.” If you have ever wrestled with a food addiction or alcohol addiction or pornography addiction, you know how easily it happens. I have a friend in Texas who loves to eat. But his eating got out of control and it threatened his health. He admitted to me that he would eat a half gallon of ice cream in one sitting. “Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food.” “Yes,” Paul answered, “But the Lord will destroy both one and the other.”
  What does this have to do with spirituality? Listen again to the words of Paul. “The body is meant . . . for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. . . . therefore, glorify God in your body.” God wants us to enjoy a full-bodied life.
  Food is a gift from God and God wants us to enjoy eating. One of the metaphors for heaven is a banquet feast. Jesus’ first miracle was turning water into wine at a wedding feast. There is no better way to spend an evening than by enjoying a good meal with good friends. But overeating, or using food or drink as a way of dealing with stress, or starving oneself in order to look thin do not glorify God.
  Sexuality is a gift from God. We are sexual beings. But prostitution or pornography or sex that is abusive to either partner, does not glorify God.
Physical health is a gift from God. The ability to live without chronic pain, to hold our children, to anticipate a long life are wonderful gifts.   But neglecting our health through the lack of exercise, or the lack of sleep, or the use of drugs, does not glorify God.
  It is in these ordinary, mundane, bodily things that we experience and serve God. Don=t take it for granted.
  Paul used this metaphor. Imagine a sacred temple. There are some things that you do not do in a sacred place. There are some things that you do not bring into a sacred place. It is holy. It is special. It is different.
  Now, imagine your body as the sacred temple of God=s Holy Spirit. I am talking about this body, the one that you brought with you into worship. It is holy. It is special. It is different. That is an embodied spirituality.
  In a moment, we are going to eat and drink together. I want you to taste the bread. It will be hard and stale and a little tasteless. It’s not meant to be a five-course dinner. But savor the taste. It reminds us that the real meal awaits us in heaven.
  I want you to taste the juice. It’s barely enough to wash down the cracker. But savor the taste. It reminds us that Christ shed real blood in our behalf.
  If you are able, we are asking you to walk to the meal. It is a chance to use your body. Give thanks that you are able to be here and to walk.
  Use your whole body in this experience of worship. “Therefore, glorify God in your body.”

1 Ronald Byars, The Future of Protestant Worship, p. 50.
2 Victor Paul Furnish, The Moral Teaching of Paul, p. 30