Photo by Jessica Fadel on Unsplash
“The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” - John 1:14, NIV.
In this season of Advent, Jesus — whom I love and have been following for almost all of my life — has become embodied. The reality that He chose to be clothed in flesh, built with bone, and filled with bodily fluid is forming some kind of new truth in me. The truth that my faith was intended to be embodied; lived out in the day-to-day of my ordinary life, in the body that God chose to give me.
Tish Harrison Warren in her book, Liturgy of the Ordinary, says,
“At root, Christianity is thoroughly an embodied faith.”
We worship with our hands lifted in praise, we sing with our voices, we kneel in prayer, and water leaks from our eyes when we’re happy or sad. Our bodies were created to carry babies, hold those who are mourning, cook meals for our friends and families, brush our teeth, hold the door open for a stranger, and make the bed.
Our emotions are often felt in our body as stress turns to headaches and fear turns to sweat, as happiness bubbles up as laughter and a sense of lightness, and trauma sinks down deep into the belly. We were created to hold many things inside our bodies and we house more than we know.
In today’s blog post, we’re exploring what it looks like to live an embodied faith, just as our sweet Savior did when He came forth from the body of a virgin, wrapped in flesh just like ours, and wearing the identity of Immanuel: God With Us.
Read it, or listen in, here: Living An Embodied Faith This Advent Season
peace be with you,
celia