November 27th, 2013 Commentary to Henri Nouwen's Daily Meditation

http://myemail.constantcontact.com/Daily-Meditation--Having-Reverence-and-Respect-for-the-Body.html?soid=1011221485028&aid=O9JxIch06Eg

In case the above link to Henri Nouwen’s Daily Meditation doesn’t work:

Wednesday November 27, 2013 
Having Reverence and Respect for the Body

In so many ways we use and abuse our bodies.  Jesus' coming to us in the body and his being lifted with his body in the glory of God call us to treat our bodies and the bodies of others with great reverence and respect.

God, through Jesus, has made our bodies sacred places where God has chosen to dwell.  Our faith in the resurrection of the body, therefore, calls us to care for our own and one another's bodies with love.  When we bind one another's wounds and work for the healing of one another's bodies, we witness to the sacredness of the human body, a body destined for eternal life.

My Commentary:

Long before my conversion experience and in the throws of my first career studies in the fine arts; I used to figure paint.  In fact figure painting was my undergraduate major.  I would paint the female or male nude in either watercolor or oils.  It was a different kind of appreciation for God’s creation you could say.  The human figure is incredibly complex and intricate to paint.  I studied at the time with one of the best at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.  His paintings were earthy and raw as well as exacting much like British figure painter Lucein Freud.

Twenty plus years later, I am studying another kind of Body—the Body of Christ and how I may best use myself for both answering God’s call and serving His will. Looking back sometimes at my art, I am looking into my former self.  It is as if St. Paul’s beautiful message of clothing yourself with Christ and putting on the New Nature is a New body of my transformed self.  Lament is the tease of the mirror/ temptation from the evil one… for now my new self is truly a temple dedicated to God.  His Holy Spirit and wondrous love strengthens my soul assuring me always where my journey is leading me to.  His prevenient GRACE is building up the solid foundation of faith my heart needs to best serve His holy church!

I leave you with thinking about those within the Body that are more or less “Chaplains to the worldly culture,” than pastors/servants to Christ.  There is a new female pastor on the Lutheran scene making a “prophetic” buzz with both her language, body piercings and tattoos.  Is it really connecting with the lost and seeking in the subculture as perhaps her ministry to culture’s aim is? Or is she distracting from the Gospel and central focus of Christ Jesus with showmanship and bodily mutilations?  We are both saint and sinner, this is true but how does Jesus speak through all these stumbling blocks of our sin?  We need to be grateful for everything God has given us.  We need to be grateful for the beauty of nature and of ourselves as given to us naturally.  With Thanksgiving nearly here in 18 hours, let us take the time to truthfully reflect upon these thoughts above.

God Bless You and your Wednesdays too!

Nicole Collins

Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni's fresco detailing "The Creation of Adam" in the Sistine Chapel; Rome.