Lent is not for changing, depriving, or punishing yourself

You are dust and to dust you shall return.

-Genesis 3:19

So often, Lent becomes a time when we try to re-up our New Year's Resolutions. We vow to give up sugar, or chocolate, or to eat salad for lunch or work out daily - or whatever it may be. The practice of Lent has become steeped in messages that our bodies are not good. That we need to change them, deprive them, or punish them. That we need to change ourselves, deprive ourselves, or punish ourselves.

Today, I invite you to receive a different message.

You are good. Your body is good. You do not need to change, deprive, or punish yourself. Doing so will not bring you closer to God.

Instead, I invite you to celebrate your body for what it is: God's creation.

Ancient Judaism believed that there was no actual separation of body/soul. But as time went gone on, particularly with the period of enlightenment, we started to believe that they are separate, and that the mind/soul are superior to the body. This led to the belief that the body is sinful - that spirit is good and flesh is bad. That anything connected to the body pulls us away from God.

But that's just not true. Your body is who you are, and it is how you are created. In your body, moving through the world, is how you experience the world. It is how you experience God.

God created you - ALL of you. God counted the hairs on your head, formed you in your mothers womb. God created your fingers and your toes, and the crookedness of your nose. Every nook and cranny of your body and soul.

You were created by the hands of a loving God who breathed life into you and called you Beloved. May Lent be a time to remember that and to connect to the God who lives and breathes in and through you.

With love,
Pastor Kelsey

Listen to more of this message on today’s Lady Preacher Podcast episode on Spotify or Apple Podcasts.