Day Seven.
(En)Fleshed. Ezekiel 36:25–26.
Today’s featured contributor is Tamika Jancewicz — a mother, womanist, and partner — is a spiritual empath and advocate for social justice and womyn empowerment. She is currently studying to obtain her MDiv at United Lutheran Seminary, while she spends her last two years as Vicar of Christ Lutheran Church in DC. She is a womanist theologian, who believes in the sacredness of the stories we choose to share. And she especially believes in the beautiful transformative power of biblical storytelling.
(en)Fleshed: give bodily form to; make real or concrete.
To make real. Real clean. Concrete in God’s cleanliness.
Clean from our idols. In our bodily form.
Have you ever heard of the expression “Cleanliness is next to Godliness”? I have. I’m not sure if my mom used to say it or not, but it was certainly meant to be an “encouragement” to keep yourself clean.
God don’t like dirty people, I guess…
Often when Xians are talking about cleanliness, it is associated with a sort of purity. To be made clean is to be a sinful being no longer. To be made clean is to be a good Xian that doesn’t do bad things.
God don’t like bad, sinful people, I guess…
These are all things I’ve grown up believing. It’s the silencing, damning shame that guilts you into believing that God will only accept you if you strive for this perfection in Christ. Being human is acceptable if you deny yourself a real bodily existence. Be clean. Individually clean. And in return, you get this individual blessing that is only for you; and maybe your neighbor can get on it if she does what you’re doing, so you should tell them.
So no wonder, then, when we find ourselves in times such as these, it’s so damn hard to see God in the midst of it all. No wonder when an oppressed, marginalized people scream at the top of their lungs,”Shit ain’t right,” those who hold power speak even louder to silence them because “what about individual accountability?” “What about being pure?” “What about your sins?” “If you knew Christ…” “If you would just do better…” “If you could just stop being…”
And to those who suppress the real and present oppressive suffering of others, I say Shut. The. Hell. Up. All of it.
You are not listening enough. Hear the words of the prophets before, and those who are here and now. Hear God’s promise to a deported, suffering, and exiled people pushed out and silenced by a violent and oppressive government. A promise of wholeness. A promise of restoration. A promise of holiness in real flesh. And a promise of transformation. Not individually, but in community.
I will make you clean from your uncleanliness and from all your idols I will clean you.
And this cleanliness.
It will change your heart to flesh. Real. Concrete. Beating flesh. To feel. To really really feel.
And how can we feel if we don’t acknowledge what is happening? How can this real, concrete, bodily existence indeed be transformed if we can’t seem to hear the pain of our neighbor as God so lovingly does?
So please stop. Listen. Be made clean. Let your heart beat in its full whole, messy, dirty, bloody state. Real. Concrete. In our communal bodily form.
