God lives here now — in vulnerable human bodies. It is surely scandalous and offensive to claim that a human body is God’s temple—the place where we are most likely to encounter the Holy. When Jesus made that claim in the Jerusalem temple (John 2:13-21), people were appalled—foreshadowing all the human bodies we religious folks scorn or cast aside.
The bodies in which God lives are not disposable. They should not be ignored. Yet the true offense occurs when we ourselves do not even want to look at the desecration of bodies happening every day in our world.
Human trafficking may involve sex, labor, or even private prison beds filled for profit. When we care enough to pay attention to the warning signs and disrupt exploitation, acting as if it is our business, change is possible. These bodies, these temples of God, also give us the authority to act, disrupt, and stand against the exploitation of vulnerable people’s bodies for profit.
This message is an excerpt from “Our bodies” by Lee Ann Pomrenke in the September 2020 issue of Gather magazine. Today is the Epiphany of Our Lord.
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