Welcome to worship! My name is Danny Bradfield, my pronouns are he/him/his, and I’m pastor here at Bixby Knolls Christian Church.
Yesterday, my sister and her family hosted a big backyard swim party and BBQ, as they often do on Memorial Day weekend. It’s always a great way to kick off summer - even if Memorial Day weekend in southern California often has a lot of fog and low clouds.
Even here in Long Beach, where the fog and low clouds tend to linger longer than they do at my sister’s house farther inland, people are flocking to the beach and to swimming pools to celebrate the arrival of summer. And this year’s celebrations are even more special, since last summer celebrations of this kind were largely absent, due to the prevalence of COVID-19.
We still need to be careful, because of COVID; but as more and more people get vaccinated, we are able to do more and more of these types of activities.
And yes, that’s my weekly encouragement for you to get vaccinated, if you haven’t yet done so. Please: get vaccinated!
So summer’s arriving, and people are going to the beach or to the swimming pool...but not everyone looks forward to such things.
For many people, trips to the beach or to the swimming pool trigger body image issues. Mental health experts have noticed how the summer months can make eating disorders and mental health symptoms worse. In summer, there is an increase in anxiety, depression, body dissatisfaction and negative self-talk.
And this affects people of all ages and all genders.
There are several reasons for this. In summer - especially at the beach or swimming pool - we tend to wear more revealing clothes, showing more of our bodies as we swim and play in the sun. Advertisements show airbrushed and photoshopped models, and diets and workout plans are everywhere. It becomes impossible to not compare your body with the ones you see on social media, on TV, and in magazine ads.
I know when I allow the negative messages from society and the negative messages from advertising to take up too much space in my mind, it negatively affects how I feel about myself and my own body.
My smile is crooked. My nose is too big. My teeth aren’t perfectly straight (or white). I have hair where I don’t want it and no hair where I do want it. I have scars and wrinkles...and I still feel insecure as a result of being called “skinny” when I was growing up.
Even in the most affirming, positive, caring environments, negative body image affects how we think of ourselves...
Many years ago when I was in northern California, I was counseling at the Disciples camp up there, and we were at the pool, and the one counselor who was the coolest male counselor, who everyone liked, who had the cool hair (so you know I’m not talking about myself), was sitting at the side of the pool.
One of the campers said to him, “Hey, why don’t you take your shirt off and come in the pool with us?”
But this super-cool, good looking counselor with the cool hair laughed and said, “nah; no one wants to see me without my shirt on.”
It seemed like such a harmless, innocent thing to say. He wasn’t saying anything negative about anyone else. He wouldn’t even think about putting someone down in that way. He was always so positive, so affirming, of every camper.
But when he made that comment - “No one wants to see me without my shirt” - I watched as several of the middle school (Chi-Rho age) campers looked at him - this cool, good-looking male counselor - and then looked down at their own adolescent bodies - some quite a bit chubbier than this particular male counselor - and I could see their own opinions of their own bodies fall.
Because to them, this cool, good-looking male counselor was close to perfect. But if his body wasn’t good enough, then theirs certainly weren’t good enough.
And that’s how it starts. Negative body issues and body shaming pervade even the most positive, affirming environments. It’s so easy to forget how good, how beautifully and wonderfully made our bodies are.
And when we put down our own bodies, it can negatively affect how others feel about their own bodies.
Society holds up to us an image of perfection, and tells you that you need to be perfect; but our bodies are all less than perfect. Our bodies will never be perfect. Because perfect doesn’t actually exist.
Here’s something I’ve learned, something that’s been so helpful to me over the years, something I think is really important: Perfection isn’t important to God.
Now, I know: that’s not what we’ve been taught. We’ve been told that God is perfect, and God demands perfection, but that we fall short of perfection, and that’s why we needed saving from our sins.
Let me say it again: Perfection isn’t important to God. What’s important to God is goodness.
Goodness, not perfection.
In the beginning, God created the universe, and it was good. God created light and darkness, sea and land, sun, moon and stars; plants and animals; and it was all good. Not perfect. Good.
And then God created humanity. And humanity was very good.
Now, eventually the idea of perfection does worm its way into scripture, notably in a few New Testament passages; but this is because of the Greek influence on New Testament thought.
By the time the New Testament was written, Jewish thought was being influenced by Greek ideas, and perfection is an idea that the Greeks had, that influenced Christian thought after Jesus; but in ancient Jewish thought, and even in the teachings of Jesus, it’s the concept of goodness - not perfection - that is lifted up.
And there is a difference between good and perfect.
In fact, sometimes things that are perfect, aren’t good.
If someone calls you a perfectionist, more often than not, it’s not good.
Ethan and I just watched the season of American Idol. In so many ways, that is a show that’s all about perfection. But there were times when a singer would get so caught up in the emotion of the song they were singing, that their voice would crack, or warble, or they’d even mess up on a word or two in the song.
It wasn’t perfect. Once when this happened, one of the singers broke down in tears after his performance - because he wanted perfection, and he knew it wasn’t perfect.
But it was good. The emotion he put into his performance was so beautiful. It was even better than perfect. Even the judges said so.
We need to learn to think that way about our bodies. Your body is so incredibly good. It’s not perfect. But it’s so incredibly good. And so unbelievably beautiful.
We sometimes forget: Jesus had a body; and I kinda wonder how “perfect” a body it was. You see artistic representations of Jesus’ body in paintings, sculptures - and especially in art that shows Jesus hanging on the cross, you see a lot of his body.
It’s weird to talk about, but it’s true, right?
And every artist had to decide how to portray Jesus’ body. And just about every artist chose to portray his body as perfect.
Perfect complexion. Perfect hair - hair all where one would want hair, and no hair where one wouldn’t want hair. He’s lean. He has muscles. And, often: blue eyes, light hair, and white skin… because in the eyes of the artists, that’s “perfect.”
It may be “perfect,” but it’s not Jesus.
Jesus’ body wasn’t perfect; not by this definition. Jesus’ body was real. It was a real body.
Scripture reminds us of that. In subtle and not-so-subtle ways, the Bible reminds us that Jesus had a real body. Jesus got hungry. Jesus ate…. Jesus got thirsty; Jesus drank…. Jesus got tired. Jesus slept.
Jesus talked about bathing. Jesus appreciated the gift of anointing, and the feel of having his feet washed; because after all that walking he did, I’m sure his feet were sore, I’m sure they were dirty, and I’m sure they stank.
And eventually, Jesus’ body would bear the wounds and scars that society inflicted upon him.
Just like so many today bear the physical and emotional wounds that society inflicts upon them.
I remember a few years ago, an artist worked with scholars to create a painting of Jesus that was an attempt to be more accurate. And people were offended by the result.
It was just a painting of Jesus’ face; but in it, Jesus has darker skin than we are used to seeing, and a wider nose. His hair is shorter, and bushy and unruly. Jesus has bushy eyebrows and a thick, black, bushy beard.
This is not a leading actor or fashion model Jesus. But it is almost certainly a lot closer to what Jesus actually looked like. Because Jesus was real. And Jesus had a real body.
I’m not sure what was considered a “perfect” body in Jesus’ time, but I know Jesus didn’t have it, because “perfect” doesn’t exist in reality. But even though his body wasn’t perfect, it was good. Very good. In fact, it was good enough for God to dwell within it.
And the same is true for you.
Your body, according to 1 Corinthians 6, is a temple of the holy spirit. Your body is good enough and beautiful enough for none other than God’s own spirit to dwell within. Just wrap your head around that! Your body is good enough and beautiful enough for none other than God’s own spirit to dwell within!
Repeat this after me, out loud, so you hear your own voice saying it: “My body is good and beautiful.”
Your body is a good and beautiful gift from God.
And every body around you is good and beautiful.
Society says that some bodies are better than others, more beautiful than others, more worthy than others. That’s a bunch of BS! That’s a bunch of skubalon, to use the Biblical word.
Every body is good; every body is beautiful; and every body is worthy.
Every body is fit to be a dwelling place for God’s own Spirit. The Spirit may like to dwell in the world’s most beautiful cathedrals, but even more so, the Spirit likes to dwell in the beautiful cathedral that is your body.
Every body is good and beautiful and worthy.
Every black and brown body.
Every Asian and indigenous body.
Every LGBTQ+ body.
Every young and old body.
Every large and small body.
Every body that has been misdefined and mislabelled.
Every body that has been judged and critiqued and ridiculed.
Every unsheltered body.
Every body that is far from its place of birth.
And every body that has been abused or beaten or violated… Yes, if that is you - if your body has been abused or beaten or violated - your body is still good and beautiful and worthy, and a dwelling place for God’s holy spirit.
Say it again: “My body is good and beautiful.”
And your body is your own. It belongs to you. No one else gets to control it, no one else gets to use it, no one else gets to say what you should do with it. Not without your permission.
Because your body is God’s gift to you.
And if you want to go to the pool this summer and take your shirt off, do it.
And if you want to go to the beach and wear a bikini, do it. (Just wear some sunscreen!)
And if you want to go to the beach or the pool and keep your shirt on, then do that.
Because it’s your body. It’s God’s gift to you.
Whatever you do, just remember how good and beautiful your body is.
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