An Embodied Faith: The Earth as the Body of God. 8.15.21.

8.22.21. The body is one of the central images in Christianity. Jesus Christ is the embodiment–the incarnation–of God. Paul imagines the church as the Body of Christ. Our tradition clearly loves bodies–and yet somehow Christianity became known as a religion that feared and discounted the body. We will explore the role of bodies in the Christian life–the individual body, the relational body, the social and global body, and the mystical body in this four week worship series. Today, we explore the image of the earth as the body of God. This metaphor comes from the late feminist theologian Sallie McFague, but its roots are deep in the Christian tradition and in scripture. We read Paul’s urgent message to the Corinthians to not abuse the Lord’s body when they share communion in 1 Cor. 11. Paul urges the Corinthian church to let the sharing of the body of Christ be a vehicle for their communion–God also shares the body of the earth with us to be a means of our communion. Rev. Lewicki, preaching.