The sacrament of health. . .

I happened to listen to a conversation with kids and their parents over the issue of micro plastics and other bio agents in everything from food sources and packaging to water to utensils.  It was something I had not expected to hear.  The late teens and early twenty somethings wanted to make sure that mom and dad were getting rid of the plastic ware and changing the way they shopped and packaged items because the kids did not want to put these "bio hazards" into their bodies.  So in addition to getting rid of plastic straws and disposable plastic plates, cups, and such, they were objecting to plastic cutting boards and such.  I get it.  This is the generation which has lived with the warnings from the gurus of the health care industry and the global causes to clean up our messes.  It has hit home.  I guess we are back to using glass and other more permanent and "safe" resources.  Honestly, I would rather use brown paper bags in the supermarket over plastic bags any day of the week.  I recycle, too.  But there is a dimension to all of this that troubles me.

Are we approaching the idea that health has become a replacement for religious sacraments?  Is the new priest of the modern day life the physician in a lab coat and the new temple the institutions providing resources for physical and mental health?  I don't know but sometimes it is beginning to sound that way.  The problem as I see it is that the desire to protect our bodies can override the call to protect our souls.  Are we developing a cult of the body?  We already look at the body as a canvas for self-expression in everything from tattoos to piercings so how much further is it to focus on the body in other ways?  Owning the body and ascribing to the body a higher value than other aspects of our daily lives both contribute to the idea that the one who can relieve pain and suffering is the priest of flesh.

While it would seem natural to believe that death would be an enemy of those who encourage a cult of the body, a higher value than postponing death is controlling it so that it comes when it is desired.  This would explain the odd way that suicide, medically assisted suicide, and euthanasia are not adversaries of those who are devoted to the cult of the body but instruments to be used along with the tools of healing designed to relieve pain, eliminate suffering, and express themselves as a canvas of the body.  Our pursuit of pleasure and entertainment accords well with the idea that the body is one more arena in which we express ourselves and our truths.  This would then connect the idea that gender is a construct of the mind more than something defined by DNA or reproductive organs to the sacramental status given to the body and those who attend to it.  It would also explain why so long after COVID there are still folks wearing masks in public, keeping their distance from others and crowds, and living out their lives within the refuge of their homes (where they work and where the things they need or want are delivered to their door).

It is almost a religious devotion given to the practices of painting and piercing the body and pursuing what is defined as healthy lives.  Our struggle to find rest from the things that trouble us as well as rest for our bodies is one more aspect of the way we invest a spiritual character to the physical care of our bodies.  It also explains the esteem we give to therapeutic definitions of those who care for us and the ease with which Christianity has transformed from dealing with the weight of eternity to finding a way for us to be happy and at peace with ourselves today.  It is not that Christians do not care for the body or esteem it a gift of God's grace and a mark of His wisdom and power, we simply refuse to assign an ultimate value to the body or an exclusive focus upon the body as the definition of who we are and what defines our lives.  Our appearance, our unfettered pursuit of pleasure and entertainment, and our esteem given to the practitioners of health can be used as the ultimate distractions from the Gospel of sin and forgiveness through the merits and mercies of our Savior, Jesus Christ.  Jesus did not come to repair our bodies but to replace what cannot endure to eternity with the new and glorious flesh like His which can endure forever.  He did not some to focus on our happiness and contentment in the moment but to build within us a profound desire for what the eye cannot see and the person cannot know except by faith.