“You’ve Got Some Body!  (To Love)”

September 15, 2009

Psalm 139:1-6, 13-18

 

            A guy is terribly overweight, so his doctor puts him on a diet. “I want you to eat regularly for two days, then skip a day, and repeat this procedure for two weeks. The next time I see you, you’ll have lost at least five pounds.”

            When he returned, he shocked the doctor by losing nearly 20 pounds.

            “Why, that’s amazing!” the doctor said. “Did you follow my instructions?”

            The guy nodded. “I’ll tell you though, I thought I was going to drop dead that third day.”

            “From hunger, you mean?” asked the doctor.

            “No, from skipping.”

 

            Several weeks ago, while watching coverage of the health care debates and town hall meetings, my mind became dizzy with terms like public option, and single payer, and tort reform.  I, like many of you, watched the fury and ferocity with which people brought their arguments to gatherings across the country.  Neutral places for dialogue and exchange became shark tanks for anger and emotion.  And the news and radio broadcasts have been no respite for civility either. 

            On one particular afternoon, while watching the debates unfold, a thought crossed my mind:  Wouldn’t the best and easiest way to lower the cost of health care in this country emerge if more and more people to better care of themselves?  Why aren’t we hearing more about preventative health?  Diet and exercise, regular screenings and check-ups, and visits with your doctor?  What if we all worked to be a little healthier?

            If health care reform is first and foremost a moral issue before it is a political one (which is what I believe), then why not start with the most basic moral agent in our society:  individual people, and individual bodies?  What would happen if more people decided to take better care of themselves, watching what they ate, exercising more, and visiting their doctor more regularly?

             One estimate suggests that  losing just 10% of your body weight could reduce as much as $5,300 of medical costs in your lifetime. [2]  Complications related to obesity account for $147 billion a year in medical costs, as well as 9 percent of this nation’s total health care tab. [3]

             Now regardless of your political stripes, and wherever you might stake your claims in the health care debate, I would hope that everyone could agree on this:  there is no quicker and more effective way of lowering health care costs than having more people take care of their bodies.

             That, in its essence, is not a political statement.  It’s a theological one.  We remember that one of the first controversies the early church had to negotiate was related to the philosophical notion of Gnosticism.  The Gnostics believed that human life was solely constituted as spirit, not flesh, and that the body was nothing more than its earthly encasement.  They believed that in the long run, it mattered little what happened to one’s body, since a person’s essence was captured in the immaterial.

             The early church labeled that a heresy, and rightfully so.  The Bible makes it very clear in the passage today that our bodies are not excess baggage; they aren’t incidental pieces of material.  They are God-inspired, God-breathed, and God-created.  From Psalm 139:

            For it was you who formed my inward parts; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.  I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.

            And we remember all the way back in the book of Genesis, when God created the first human, out of earthly (not heavenly) stuff like clay and dust, God said, “That’s good.” 

             Make no mistake.  Your body, as accident prone and disease inclined as it may be, is God-inspired, and God-created. 

             And when God looks at the potential in your body, God says, “It’s good.”

            And if that’s the case, then wouldn’t it make sense that you would want to take care of your body?  It’s the greatest and best gift you have every been given.  It is a constant reminder of God’s miraculous creativity. 

            And more importantly - it is the only body you’ll ever get. 

            So, we’re called to take care of it.  Feed it right, exercise it well, give it plenty of rest, and do whatever it takes to protect it and prevent disease.  Not just so that we can lower the cost of health care, and not just so we can look better and feel better.  But because by taking care of our bodies, we become better stewards of what God has given us, and better able to do what God wants us to do.

            So why don’t we do it?

            My friend Jim Harnish, pastor in Florida, reminded me in an e-mail message of just why that’s so hard.  He noted that a landmark study investigated the 10 leading causes of death in the country, and noted that in fifty percent of the cases, those deaths were related to lifestyle choices.  Smoking, poor eating, lack of exercise, alcohol and drug abuse, and risky sexual practices. 

            The study concludes:

             “Changing the health behaviors of Americans has the greatest potential of any current approach for decreasing morbidity and mortality and for improving the quality of life.”

             He quotes another book, called “Immunity to Change.”

             When cardiologists tell patients that they will die if they don’t change their behavior, only one in seven actually make the behavior changes that could save their lives.

            Harnish concludes: If those are the odds cardiologists face in getting heart patients to change their behavior, what are the odds of a preacher trying to encourage people to change their lifestyle behaviors to practice the disciplines that lead to a healthier spiritual life? But against the odds, that’s exactly what we are trying to do! 

 

            And frankly, according to one study, if you have a faith or religious belief system, there’s a chance it would be even harder for you!  For those of you who read my Mid-Week Message this past week, you know that I found some research that was quite surprising for us Christians who care about our health.  It begins with the question, “Can religion make you fat?”

             That’s the question Ken Ferraro has studied for over 25 years.  As a professor of sociology at Purdue University, he has interviewed thousands of people to determine what influence, if any, one’s religious devotion has on their physical well-being.  His conclusions are pretty clear:  religious institutions have a significant impact on a person’s physical health, for better and for worse. 

             He has determined that obesity rates for women increase with greater use of religious media, such as religious television, radio, or reading material.  He notes that many religious activities are rooted in food, and church fellowship meals are often heavy in calories.  (Admit it:  when given the choice between bringing a vegetable tray and your Aunt Ethel’s recipe for Triple-Chocolate Decadent Delight, you’ll bring the dessert for bragging rights every time.)

             But there’s good news, too.  As much as religion can be a breeding ground for obesity, it can also be a catalyst for healthy living.  People with an active prayer life are more able to handle their emotions without turning to food for other substances for comfort. The same is true of people who read the Bible and attend religious services. 

             Yet, Ferraro concludes, churches can do much more in encouraging healthy choices among its congregants.  Along with branding tobacco and alcohol as vices, they can do the same for  overeating and gluttony, which Ferraro calls the “accepted vice.” 

             Ferraro concludes, “With more awareness and education, churches can be a positive force in fighting obesity.”[1]

 

            So that’s what we’ll be doing over the next seven weeks, in a series called, “To Your Health:  God’s Prescription for a Healthy Life.”  We’ll be taking a close look at some of the most frequent questions I’ve heard regarding physical health and the Christian life.  You’ll notice on the Scripture bookmark sermons that will address things like: 

·     What do we really believe about healing and miracles?

·     What do we mean when we say, “we believe in the resurrection of the body?”

·     Did John Wesley have anything to say about health?

·     What are practical ways for us to take care of our bodies?

            And of course, we’ll be learning lots of practical tips and doing some practical things together.  I want to offer you two things:

            First, I understand the irony in having, next Sunday, on the second day of this series on personal health, something called a “Pork Feed.”  Not exactly the most health-inspiring title for an event, I understand.  Instead of trying to reschedule the Pork Feed for a time when we are not emphasizing personal health, I want to extend a challenge for you to bring dishes next Sunday that you think are both super-flavorful and also healthy. Now, you can still bring your favorite dishes, but I’d also encourage you to bring something that you believe is both healthy and flavorful.  I would love to see what you all come up with, and let’s prove to ourselves that it’s possible to bring something other fat bombs to a church potluck.  That’s why, by the way, we are only inviting you to bring salads and side dishes, and not desserts.  We’ll provide the desserts.

            And as an added incentive, we’ll be having a panel of judges doing taste tests of your dishes, and we’ll be awarding a prize for the healthiest and most flavorful salad, as well as other categories. 

                "Best Use of Marshmallow in a Public Place"

                "Best use of Jell-O in An Edible Form"

                "Most Colorful"

            And you get the idea.

           

            And here’s the other thing.  On your way out today, I hope you’ll consider picking up one of these.  It’s a pedometer.  You can stick it in your pocket when you start your day and keep track of the number of steps you walk throughout a given day.  It’ll be yours to take with you and to keep, as long as you report every Sunday by filling out a comment card how many steps you’ve walked between now and Sunday, November 1. 

            Here’s the challenge.  I want to see if we as a congregation can walk 25 million steps together, which is the distances from here to the other side of the world.  Now, there are sixty of these pedometers that you can have for free, and even though they cost the church about $1.85 each, they will do the basics in terms of counting your steps.  Or, you might choose to go to one of our local stores and spend a few more bucks to by a pedometer that will do a few more things, like keep track of time, measure heart rate, count calories, and calculate distance.  That would be a good thing, too.  Regardless, I hope that all of you will participate in this project, and let’s see if we can walk to the other side of the world as a congregation. 

            You’ll come to find that taking care of your body can be fun and easy – especially when it’s done with others!

 

            The Psalmist proclaims: 

             For it was you who formed my inward parts; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.  I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.

 

            Let’s take care of our bodies, these very good gifts from God.

 

            In the name of our Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer, Amen.

 

 

Psalm 139:1-6, 13-18

1 O Lord, you have searched me and known me.

2  You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from far away.

3  You search out my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways.

4  Even before a word is on my tongue, O Lord, you know it completely.

5  You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me.

6  Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is so high that I cannot attain it.

 

13  For it was you who formed my inward parts; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.

14  I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.  Wonderful are your works; that I know very well.

15   My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth.

16  Your eyes beheld my unformed substance.  In your book were written all the days that were formed for me, when none of them as yet existed.

17  How weighty to me are your thoughts, O God!  How vast is the sum of them!

18  I try to count them—they are more than the sand; I come to the end—I am still with you.