Our bodies, the body of Christ

I am lucky to have two stepdaughters who are in that perilous and rich space between girl and woman. They are 12 and 15 and as different as can be. The oldest, is tall and thin and an amazing athlete. And though her body is what others might aspire to have, she has ambivalent feelings about it.

The youngest is 12, and while she is tall like Cameron, she’s built differently. “I’ve never been tiny” is how she describes herself. And that’s not easy. She’s usually the tallest person in her class, male or female, and stronger than most of them too. While she admits wrestling with that when she was younger, she doesn’t let it bother her now.

Both girls are clear that God loves everyone just as she or he is. The work of loving bodies, both our own and others, is the work of God: feeding, healing, protecting and nurturing. What more important work could we be doing?

This excerpt is from the February 2016 Women of the ELCA blog, “Women’s Bodies and the Body of Christ,” by Collette Broady Grund.  Today we remember Seattle, chief of the Duwamish Confederacy, who died 1866.