And the Word became flesh and lived among us,
I think that we have become disconnected from the traditional Christian theology of the physical body. Sometimes we think it is all bad, so we must deny anything our body wants. That is asceticism. Or we may swing the other way and feel we must satisfy any desire of the body. That is hedonism. Both are a perversion of the Christian theology of the body.
This is where our celebration of Christmas will help ground us in proper thinking of our body and the physical world. John says in the quote above, “the Word became flesh.” The physical world and our physical bodies are important to God. We celebrate the babe in the manger, not for sentimental reasons, but for the reason that God has come to us in a body, a real human body, with a real human soul. And then on Easter morning, a real human body with a real human soul was raised from the dead.
Our bodies are the result of our father and our mother combining their genetic material to form something new and unique. Our soul was created by God and made for the body it was going to inhabit. We are not what we are by some random mixing of genes and a heavenly lottery on which soul gets which body. All of it was purposeful, and under the control of the creator that also become flesh and dwelt among us.
It is not just the babe in the manger, but each one of us are “fearfully and wonderfully made.” We were made for one reason we are the temple of the Holy Spirit so that we may glorify God in our bodies. It is so counter-cultural these days to celebrate our bodies as gifts from God. It seems some are in a rush to reject their bodies and want massive changes. Obviously, we need to seek the health of our bodies. Just as the babe in the manger was a gift from God, so are our bodies and souls that we may bring glory to the loving God that works all thing out for the good.
Merry Christmas,
Pastor Greg
