02/07/2024 0 Comments
From the Associate Vicar: Embodied People
From the Associate Vicar: Embodied People
# From The... - Letters to the Congregation
From the Associate Vicar: Embodied People
Dear One’s of St. C’s.
Honestly, I was hoping to not write a ”from the Associate” this week. My parents are in town and I am still recovering from Holy Week and from my kids day care being closed last week. I have sermon prep and Episcopal 101 prep to work on and today is my son’s second birthday. But too much has come out this week about people dying in our country by violence. And I am particularly concerned about and troubled by the people who have black or brown skin color who were killed by police force.
This week I have spent much of my time imagining and picturing the deaths of so many people who deserve to be alive today. As I have been following the trial of Derek Chauvin, I have been replaying how Chauvin killed Floyd in my mind. I have pictured Adam Toledo and Daunte Wright being shot. It has been a heavy week in our country. And of course, we all woke up this morning to the mass shooting in Indianapolis where eight dead were found dead at FedEx facility.
In Easter, we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus’ body. We recognize that we are embodied people and God came to meet us in a body. We need to seriously take a look at how we allow people’s bodies in this country to be treated and how we respond as embodied people.
The resurrection is a story that begs us to stop inflicting violence on one another’s bodies. Just as Jesus’ life was sacred so are all who are killed by brutal violence. God cares about your body and the trauma that is inflicted upon it. When we hear these stories or watch these videos of violence (if you choose to) notice how you experience them in your body. Try to scan your body like we have been doing during Lent in the church service. Notice what your body is trying to tell you. Are you tense? Numb? Nauseous? I believe this pain, injustice, and suffering that we see and hear about shows up in our bodies.
I have been taking time this week to sit in what my body is trying to tell me and letting that be my prayer. I know the truth in my own life is that before these videos were available to me, I was shielded from much of this trauma. But historically the black and brown communities in our country who are most deeply impacted by this violence against their bodies have never had this shield. It is time that people regardless of their race take off this shield for good and join in fighting against this injustice that is before us. We can stand with the resurrected Jesus and offer a new story. All bodies are sacred and blessed by God. Jesus came to bless our full embodiment, wounds and all, our vulnerability, and our need for one another. We have to let this impact us in our own bodies and then move outward to find healing for humanity, honoring all bodies and demanding its value to be known.
with the hope of the resurrection,
Meghan
Comments