Rev. Tessie Mandeville
March 9, 2008
Christ Covenant MCC
Decatur, GA 30030

I’m going to say some names and I want you to tell me what they have in common:

Coco Hernandez
Leroy Johnson
Danny Amatullo
Doris Schwartz
Bruno Martelli
Mr. Sherofski
Ms. Berg
Ms. Grant

They are all characters from the 1980’s TV series, FAME. And one of the most memorable songs from that show is I Sing the Body Electric. How about we give it a try?!

I sing the body electric
I celebrate the me yet to come
I toast to my own reunion
When I become one with the sun

And I'll look back on Venus
I'll look back on Mars
And I'll burn with the fire of ten million stars
And in time
And in time
We will all be stars

I sing the body electric
I glory in the glow of rebirth
Creating my own tomorrow
When I shall embody the earth  

And I'll serenade Venus
I'll serenade Mars
And I'll burn with the fire of ten million stars
And in time
And in time
We will all be stars

This is a lovely song but there’s an even earlier version of I Sing the Body Electric by Walt Whitman:

I sing the body electric.
That of the male is perfect
And that of the female is perfect.
There is something in staying close to men and women
and looking on them, and in the contact and odor of them,
that pleases the soul well.
All things please the soul, but these please the soul well.
If any thing is sacred, the human body is sacred.

How many of you heard that in your churches growing up? I grew up in the Southern Baptist tradition and whenever we talked about bodies it had to do with sexual sins and how we must control our desires. What I internalized in my body from these lessons was fear, shame, and confusion. No one ever said to me, “Love your body.” No one ever said, “Your body is a gift from God and it is beautiful.”

But I say to you this morning that our bodies are the vehicles of the Divine. They are where our spiritual experiences take place. And the experiences that we have in worship or in some joyous moments, like playing softball or practicing yoga or making love, are moments of spirit and the body is where they take place. And we have been done a great disservice to make the body as something bad in spirituality and in religion.1

Historically, the Bible itself has been used to drive a wedge between the spirit and the body. It’s called dualism and dualism elevates the spirit to a status of superiority and lowers the body to an inferior status. The companion of dualism is sexism and patriarchy: men identify themselves with spirit (mind), while men identify women with the body (matter) and then assume that the superior needs to control the inferior. As a result of these understandings, we have inherited a disembodied spirituality. The Apostle Paul himself said in the book of Romans, “You are not in the flesh, you are in the Spirit.” But I think we’re in both and we need a both/and spirituality instead of an either/or spirituality. I believe with all my heart that it is in the interplay between the flesh and spirit that we will know our most profound resurrection.

In our gospel story today Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead. He doesn’t just raise his spirit from the dead; he raises his body also. The Catholic Church literally raised a body from the dead this week. Saint Padre Pio was exhumed after 40 years so that his body could be put on display for veneration.

In the midst of death and in the sadness and weeping that Jesus himself experiences in his own body, he promises us that he is the resurrection and the life and those who believe in him, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in him will never die. We are asked to trust this promise made to us—that even though we die, we will come back to life in love. That’s what happening to Saint Padre Pio. He’s dead but is coming back to life because of people’s deep love and respect for him, because people still remember the miracles he performed. This promise of Jesus’ is what I rely on when I have to bury the bodies of people I love in tombs. I trust that though they are dead, they will live on in my heart and memory. And what this beautiful promise of Jesus says to me is that nothing is lost forever.

Death is not the greatest loss in life.  The greatest loss is what dies inside us while we live.2 I think we have a very complicated relationship to our bodies. Think about it—every “ism” that we face has to do with our bodies. “Racism. A unholy and distorted relationship to the raced bodies. Sexism. A unholy and distorted relationship to sexed bodies.”3 Heterosexism. A distorted and unholy relationship to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender bodies. Sizism. A unholy and distorted relationship to fat bodies. Ableism. A unholy and distorted relationship to disabled bodies. Ageism. A unholy and distorted relationship to old bodies, and in some cases, young bodies.

There are things that happen to us in our bodies, ways we are hurt, that cause us to die on the inside. Discrimination is one of them. So many people have experienced at least one form of abuse in their bodies—sexual, physical, psychological, or religious abuse. And when we do, we are made to feel ashamed. Shame is a deeply painful issue. “Shame is that feeling which arises when we are convinced that there is something about ourselves that is wrong, inferior, flawed, weak or dirty.”4 Shame has many voices and some of them sound like this: “I am unlovable. It was my fault; I should have been able to say no. My skin is too dark. I am disabled and useless. I have AIDS. I am stupid. I am old and unimportant. Are you gonna eat that?” I don’t know about you but several of these ring true for me.

I would say that most of us go to great lengths to conceal attributes that cause shame. As LGBT people especially, we seem to have personal mandates to conceal and to keep ourselves hidden because we have been made to feel ashamed of our desires and erotic expression. But I am challenging this mandate that we need to keep ourselves hidden. In fact, I believe we need to do just the opposite. We need to speak our truths and express our love. We need to come out of our tombs of shame. Unfortunately, no easy panacea exists for removing the long-standing, deeply entrenched tendencies towards shame. However, I know from my own life that shame can be healed. It doesn’t happen overnight but there are ways to unbind our bodies from shame.

Often we have to risk self-exposure by speaking our truths out loud. We have to take the chance of revealing feelings, thoughts, needs, and fears, to another person. Secondly, somewhere along the line we have to trust that Divine Love does not condemn us, does not blame us, does not shame us. There is a power loose in this Universe that is stronger than death and that longs to release us from our tombs of shame.

The voice of Jesus called Lazarus to life. We call each other to life in the spirit and the body. That’s the power of community. Who are you calling out to? Who are you helping to bring out of the tombs of shame?

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.”5 Queer people are powerful beyond measure and when I say queer, I mean everyone in this room no matter what your sexual identity is. Until we can reclaim the holy connection between flesh and spirit, there is some portion of our power locked away in a tomb. It’s time for it to come out! Our playing small does not serve the world. LGBT people and our allies have unique gifts to offer to this world and the world is waiting.

The story of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead is a story of how important our bodies are to our spirituality. Jesus understood that our spirits need our bodies in order to find full expression and full realization of who we are. We don't have to choose between flesh and spirit; we need them both and they need each other.

Let the love of God and beloved community bring you out of whatever tombs you’re in. Let your shame be healed so you can come out and come into an embodied spirituality. Listen for these voices that can help call us out of our tombs: “I am worthy. I am wise. My skin is lovely. It wasn’t my fault. Your body is beautiful. You are my beloved.”

If any thing is sacred, the human body is sacred. It is in the interplay between the flesh and spirit that we will know our most profound resurrection. When we let the power of God and community call us out of tombs, we will indeed sing the body electric.

We’ll toast the reunion of flesh and spirit.

We’ll glory in the glow of rebirth

Creating our own tomorrows

When we shall embody the earth

Blessed be and amen.

Some thoughts by my friend and mentor, Rev. Dr. G. Penny Nixon, MCC San Francisco, 2003, but adapted by myself.

Norman Cousins

A quote by Rev. Dr. Penny Nixon

The Culture of Shame, Andrew P. Morrison

Marianne Williamson

Copyright © 2008 by Rev. Tessie Mandeville. Permission granted for non- profit circulation with attribution of author and venue. Other rights reserved.