Reclaiming the Body
Tim: I’m so glad to be back this week!
Shea: Welcome back, world traveler. Since you’re back, give us a sneak peek of where we are heading on Thursday night.
Tim: I’m going to talk about how the Christian faith is “fleshy.”
Shea: Say more.
Tim: Starting with the Incarnation, this idea of a fully embodied understanding of self and community keeps popping up. So why do a lot of Christians try to lock their faith inside their heads?
Shea: That’s a brilliant point. It almost seems that many people try to rationalize their faith, to the detriment of the rest of the body.
Tim: Which is counterproductive. It neglects the needs of our bodies and can denigrate them.
Shea: So what do we need to do about it?
Tim: The time has come to reclaim the God-ness that incarnates all of us. In antiquity, people believed that there was a spark of divine light in all people. Meister Eckhart noted this in his mystic writings.
Shea: A divine spark–I like that. How do we get in touch with that spark?
Tim: We do this when we affirm our bodies and the bodies of others–in all shapes, sizes, orientations, and identities.
Shea: To really reclaim our bodies is to embrace them?
Tim: Yes, and then we can begin to see our bodies as God does: beautiful image bearers of the divine. We are one of a kind and our bodies are temples of the Holy One.
Shea: And we should honor and cherish our bodies as such.
Tim: Exactly. This week I will talk about reclaiming our bodies, something that will lead us into deeper connection with the divine and ourselves.
Join us this Thursday at L!VE Café, 163 S. Oak Park Avenue in Oak Park. Doors open at 7:00p, the study begins at 7:30p. If you can’t be with us in person, join us via Facebook Live.
We need your help!
As we think about the future of Gather, please let us know what gifts you bring and would like to share with the community. There are many roles that have to come together to make Gather happen every week. This includes setup, technical support, worship, managing handouts and information, coordinating drinks, and teardown. We need your help. Please let us know what type of service you’d be interested in!
Watch God Work,
Tim & Shea
NEW SERIES BEGINS IN SEPTEMBER
What kinds of spiritual practices and habits work best for us? How do we keep our faith life fresh? What do we do when things we’ve always done feel like they’re not working? How do we stay plugged in to God’s work in us and our community? This fall we’ll look at spiritual disciplines as our means of survival in an increasingly chaotic world.
Join us every Thursday from September 6 through October 11, as we examine Spiritual Disciplines for Undisciplined Times.
As we prepare to become a vibrant worshipping community, we invite you to enjoy a Spotify playlist that captures the kind of worship we hope to embrace. Give it a spin while you’re driving. Make it your workout jam. Add it to your devotional time. Most of all, feel yourself becoming part of a sacred village of believers who love their God and one another!
Check out the Gather Worship Playlist here.