PHYSICAL HEALING
March 18, 2007
Eileen Parfrey, pastor
Springwater Presbyterian
Luke 8:40-56; 2 Corinthians 5:1-10; Psalm 32

When my grandfather died, that passage from 2 Corinthians today helped me understand that this man I had loved so much was only "gone" in the sense that his body was no longer living. He was with God, and that was an enduring truth. But this same comfort that life endured even though the body was dead might incline a person to think of bodies as technicalities to be dumped at the first chance, the sooner to get to heaven. Who could blame you? Given the choice of sticking with something that lasts forever or something that wears out, which would you choose to stake your grade on? If we believe in "the resurrection of the body" as we say in the Apostles Creed, which one do we get? The one that looks more like my grandmother's every day or the blue steel I sported in my heyday?

Every spiritual director I've ever had has told me, "Listen to your body." My seminary buddies always knew when I was wrestling with a hard decision, because my sciatica flared and I walked with a limp-as if I was Jacob wrestling with the angel of the Lord until he was struck in the hip joint-to give him pain! Another of my friends tells of having troubles with migraines when her spiritual director told her to the Spirit was trying to tell her something, and she needed to listen. Astonished, she allowed her director to guide her in listening. What she heard was a small child crying-her inner child-asking why she was punishing her, pushing her so hard. "What have I done wrong?" cried that child. In attending to that child, her migraines disappeared.

More people of faith are realizing that body and spirit are not just "part of the same person," they are the same person. Caring for our bodies is part of our spiritual journey, just as our spiritual health impacts our physical well-being. Even momilies, reflect this. "Cleanliness is next to godliness," which presupposes a body necessary for that godliness. One of the most distinctive ways of expressing godly cleanliness is the practice of keeping kosher. To "keep kosher" is shorthand for the Jewish dietary and cleanliness laws around food. Elizabeth Ehrlich's memoir reflects on how the kosher practices she has adopted now shape her daily life. Although by keeping kosher she's more aware of hunger, appetite, and the mystery of life sustained by eating, her practice is about more than awareness. Attentiveness to decisions about food, cooking, and cleaning is not reason for keeping kosher, she says. It's God's commandment, and that reminds her that hunger and its satisfaction is just one of God's concrete activities in human history. Her history. Holiness touching the ordinary is bound to change your life.

Marya Hornbacher reflects on the connection between physical hunger and spiritual need in her book, Wasted: A Memoir of Anorexia and Bulimia. She believes eating disorders are attempts to prove, by denying human hungers, that you don't need anything. Her addiction to not-needing developed because she didn't understand her hunger for answers and salvation. She took the not-need approach, believing it could make her immune to pain. It is pain avoidance, she says, that is behind our culture's addiction to acquiring and consumerism, the reason so many of us are overweight. We eat and shop past the point of met need, because we are trying to gain power over our deep need to not-need. Hidden behind a search for immunity to pain is a disregarded need of God and salvation. Believe it or not, this is about the sermon title, "Physical Healing." "Listen to your body." Our bodies talk to us. They are part of how God communicates with us. And our bodies never lie.

Last Friday's Opening Doors Taskforce meeting included an in-service by the director of Forward Stride, a hippo-therapy program in Wilsonville. "Hippo" is the Greek word for horse, so as you might imagine, Forward Stride is about horse therapy. We invited Forward Stride to our meeting to learn about horse therapy for things like cerebral palsy, autism, brain injury, MS, Alzheimer's. The director, Trisha Thompson, spoke in terms of sensory integration and the neurological impact of working with horses. But she laughs when she says that the occupational and physical therapists "trick" their clients into wellness. Indeed, it looks like tricks because of the fun everyone is having, but the therapy is based on a communication on the physiological level as well as the spiritual. Clients are attending to so many stimuli and instructions, they stop being conscious of themselves. There's no time to concentrate on "me" when the rider, horse, therapists, volunteers, all become one. Trisha says, "We're in the business of grace," a spiritual connection that makes room for physical healing.

This could be why all those spiritual directors out there keep saying, "Listen to your body." Our bodies are more than the Tupperware that keeps our spirit fresh until God takes us out of the earthly fridge to bring us to the heavenly banquet table. Not every ache and illness is a message from God. There really are germs that cause disease and injuries that have nothing to do with God conveying to us the purpose of our lives. But suffering is not the unmitigated evil we Americans make it out to be. We cause ourselves more suffering by avoiding pain at any cost than we would experience if we were to simply ask, "What are you trying to tell me?" If it is true, as the Meditation Before Worship says, that at God's banquet table nothing is wasted, then suffering and illness don't need to be avoided like the plague. Even our brokenness (in the hands of God) is gift. A growth opportunity maybe, an invitation to be in conversation with God-for sure. But nothing is wasted, so it is therefore possible to receive everything with gratitude. Even sickness and pain.

As we learned from the youth last week, Presbyterians do believe in miracles. When you are sick, it's a good idea to go to a doctor or health professional. But also do not neglect to pray for healing, to invite the community to engage with you in that prayer. And as you pray, to ask God what your body is trying to tell you. Do not be afraid of trying something other than pills. Try exercise, diet, prayer. Even meditation! I read that, for every year you spend in prayer, you grow a year younger. The author proved her point by citing the profoundly aged residents of religious orders. I don't know where her assertion about growing younger comes from, but she ended by inviting communication from any reader who grows younger year by year and who doesn't die. However, physiologists note that the body in prayer has lowered blood pressure, a slower heart rate, and smoother brain waves. So maybe there is something to this "listen to your body." If nothing else, God wants to talk with you.

Which begs the question, how does a body go about doing that? Let's end with a "listen to your body" exercise. Sit straight and square, attend to your breathing. Mentally scan your body to see if there is some part that is calling for your attention. Maybe you already know your jaw is tight and painful. Or your neck is tense. Your arm hurts. You have a pain in your side. Maybe nothing at all hurts! Hooray for you! But ask anyhow. Be quiet and attentive. When you have located a place that is calling for your attention, spend a few moments asking what it is trying to tell you.