Made in the Image of God

In my line of work, I listen to a LOT of women. That probably doesn't surprise you. After all, I'm a woman, and I'm a pastor. Listening is part of my job, and I love it.

What kinds of things do women talk to me about? Faith is a big part of it - their convictions, their witness, their doubts, and their joys and fears. But for some reason, I seem to hear a lot about "other stuff" as well, stuff that many people don't fit into the "faith" box. What kinds of things fall into the "other stuff" category? Lots of women, both inside and outside of church, talk about their marriages and relationships, their self-image and self-esteem, the difficulties and joys of managing their careers and their households, and the pressures of raising a family.

Within this "other stuff" category, there are some things that are particularly hard to talk about, and yet they come up again and again. Recently, I've noticed that they all have to do with something that we don't talk a whole lot about at church - the physical manifestation of ourselves, something that is called a "temple", and something made in the image of God: our bodies.

That's right, ladies. Just like we need to keep our souls and thoughts strong, pure, and directed, we need to focus on our bodies. If we didn't have our physical selves, we would find it awfully difficult to do many of the things we do for our families, our faith communities, our colleagues, and our friends.

I started, with a small group of my closest women friends in faith, to think about this idea of our bodies as temples and how we can glorify God through our physical selves. We call our small group "Our Temples, Ourselves." We started to list out all of the issues we have with our bodies, all of the things we would like to do physically and would like to have for our health and physical well-being, and all of the domains that our physical selves influence and touch. This small group has been an amazing source of support as we have each tried to reach new levels of health and faith for ourselves. This blog is my way of reaching out to a larger audience - all of you - to talk about the same kinds of things and to invite a wider conversation about how, as women of the Word, we can bear stronger witness to our faith as spiritual, physical beings.