A lot of religious people I’ve met have been convinced that anything to do with our bodies is evil. Often these will be the same people who’ve been told that this life is just something to be grimly endured before we’re beamed up somewhere else.
So what do I believe?
I believe in truth, and that at the centre of this truth is boundless love, and that it has a source, and that beauty is pointing us towards it.
I believe that life is a sacred gift. I believe that there is never not a good time to be compassionate and generous. I believe that there is a rhythm of resurrection and redemption built into the fabric of the universe.
I believe there is a deep, holy magic in taking our bodies out into the world and experiencing the wonder of it. And I only need to look at the swifts joy-riding the summer air above me to know that there is something far deeper and wider going on here – and that we’re all invited to be a part of it.
The Bright Matter of Heaven
God is not found
out there in a distant sky;
you don’t have to leave your body
to feel the divine.
Spirit lives in the soil,
it is bedded deep in our flesh;
the bright matter of heaven
is music
and wine
and baking bread
and making love;
it is reaching out your hand
to help another.
– Gideon Heugh
Gideon Heugh 