Reflection: GUC Values: Well Being (Lent 4)

March 10, 2024

Biblical Scholar NT Wright points out that the Western Church’s obsession with the present state and eventual destination of a person’s soul is not found in the New Testament – at least not in the way we talk about it today.  In a speech given to a meeting of the Society of Christian Philosophers, Wright says, ‘ Paul’s view of God’s ultimate future for the human person is the full integration of all that we are made to be” and that the body is the temple of the living God, not just the mind, the spirit, or the soul.   Christ did not come to save our souls and take them to a place other than earth, but to bring earth in line with heaven – in fact, to bring a renewed heaven and a renewed earth”.  “Space, time and matter [including the body, are] the good gifts of a good creator God, the place where this God is known and the means by which he is to be worshipped”.  What we translate as soul, “Psyche” is, in its Hebrew context, more like the whole human being, the human being that is alive in all ways through the spirit of life given by God.  This isn’t the place or time to get into what Wright thinks the New Testament has to say about life after death (ie not very much at all) but suffice it to say that the idea that the whole human being can be separated out into a good spirit or soul and an easily-corruptible body or material self is foreign to the New Testament.  “ God is always at work in, and addressing, human beings, not only through one faculty such as the soul or spirit but through every fibre of our beings, not least our bodies.”

There is a famous story attributed to Russian Orthodox archbishop Anthony Bloom [1914–2003] . . . A young man came to him for spiritual consultation, angry and distressed because he couldn’t make any sense out of his Christianity. The dogma and theology seemed like so much bunk, and the creeds frequently made him furious. He yearned for a life of faith. . . . What did Father Anthony suggest?

The archbishop listened intently and then made a rather surprising suggestion: that the young man simply go home and make one hundred full prostrations a day for a month.

Now in Orthodox practice a full prostration is not a simple bob-and-curtsy, as genuflection tends to be in the West. One goes flat out on the floor, face down, with arms outstretched; holds the position for at least a good long in-and-out breath; and then slowly rises to one’s feet. . . . [it’s almost like a burpee, but much much slower, and with spiritual intent]. When he returned a month later, [the young man’s] eyes were glowing with faith, and the creeds no longer made him angry. The reason, as the archbishop knew full well, is that through the deep, rhythmic gestures of bowing and emptying himself, the man came to understand something that could not be found by the mind. It lived in his body. In connecting with his body, he reconnected with the wellsprings of his faith.  {Episcopal priest and CAC teacher emerita Cynthia Bourgeaul, Centre for Action and Contemplationt Embodied Faith — Center for Action and Contemplation (cac.org)  Singing does the same thing for many of us – it reconnects us to our faith and the divine harmony of life when we start to flag.

In many of the healing miracles described in the Gospels, Jesus heals the whole self, not separate parts of the self.  Jesus heals the human being, body, mind and spirit.  Jesus forgives sin, heals physical challenges and illness, brings people back into the circle of society who might have struggled due to their challenges.   The church, too, ought to be a place of healing.  We know it has too often been a place of hurt for many, and we want to be a part of changing that – being more true to Jesus the Healer himself.

When we talked about what was important to us at Gordon United, we mentioned health, positivity, optimism, laughter, fun, joy, a sense of family and belonging – all of which we gathered together under the very general heading of “wellbeing”.  It’s a vague heading, and maybe we can come up with a better way of naming the values in that grouping – but they all fit within the broad picture of who the human is and how Christian life can shape the whole person.

At one time we had a yoga group at GUC; some churches have “Holy Hikers” groups; others have family games nights or church volleyball or basketball;  some churches even have their own baseball or soccer teams!  We have Holy Humour Sundays and make lots of jokes in and outside the church service, because laughter is good medicine;  we talk about mental and emotional illness because we need to talk about these experiences to help each other get better.  We visit one another or phone one another or send cards to combat loneliness and isolation. We share Messy Church because church should be fun as well as serious, and it’s a form of worship that uses our whole selves; it gets us moving and active and interacting using all of our senses.  As we sing we give God praise and connect to the Holy but we also connect to our whole selves! All of these activities and ministries are part of well-being in the congregation – and you might also consider how we foster wellbeing in our communities as well.

I would have liked to finish these thoughts today with a little Holy Humour to leaven what has been a fairly heavy sermon series so far – but it’s kind of hard to find a joke on this topic! Instead, I’ll share with you a quirky story that a friend told me this week.  A friend of hers received the miracle of a heart transplant; even more miraculously, as this person healed she found herself experiencing memories that were not her own. After finding out more about the donor who had given her his heart, she realized that those memories must somehow have been carried within the blood and tissue of the heart that now beat within her chest.  The consciousness, the mind, the soul – call it what you will –  is not separate from bodily existence, but connected to it in ways science has yet to explain.  All of this is blessing from our mysterious, wondrous Creator.

Amen.

 

 

March 2011
Main Paper, Friday March 18

Society of Christian Philosophers: Regional Meeting, Fordham University

By the Rt Revd Prof N. T. Wright
University of St Andrews

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