THE PRODIGAL (8). BODY CHECK

  IF YOU DIDN'T HAVE A BODY, YOU WOULDN'T BE HERE AT ALL - EITHER MENTALLY OR PHYSICALLY.

YOU CAN'T SEPARATE BODY, SOUL AND SPIRIT; IT'S NOT AS THOUGH YOUR MIND'S RIGHT HERE WHILE YOUR BODY IS OFF SOMEWHERE ELSE.
What is your body anyway? The breath within you, the organs that keep you going without you even noticyng, and the skin that hold it all in, marking the boundary with the world around you. Your body is quite something. When you see your body in a mirror, you think 'that's me'. What do you do with your body? Ignore it? Mistreat it? When you're hurting, your body panics. Our bodies are where all our pleasure and suffering happen.
You can't go anywhere without your body. Nobody else can live in it - it's who you are. When you're in prison, your body suffers along with your mind; you have to protect it from harm and look for new sources of energy.

NEW LIFE FOR OLD BONES (Ezechiel 37).
After Israel  was invaded by Babylonian troops in the early 6 century BC, the prophet Ezechiel lived in exile in Babilon (modern-day Iraq) with some of his people. He told the exiles that God was with them even in a foreign land, beyond the borders of Israel. Ezechil's prophecy is build around a series of visions he saw and then interpreted. His vision of the dry bones represents the Israelites in exile; the coming back to life symbolises the people's return to their land. It's the first time in the Bible that we find the image of a new body - but not the last.
Think: Do you think this passage relates in any way to life after death?
Does the breath of life exist separately from the body? Where doed the life in this vision comes from?
Note the successive stages in the bodies being rebuilt. What is the progression? What coud this mean for those without hope?
This passase depicts a collective resurrection. What does it tell us about our relationship with death and life?

LET TOMORROW LOOK AFTER ITSELF  ( Matthew 6:25).
What do people worry about? What do you worry about? Should you?
Is Jesus invinting us to be irresponsible?
If my life is more than just food, drink and clothes, what should my priorities and choices be? What the purpose of my life?
How can I 'put God's work first and do what He wants' today?

MY BODY MATTERS (1 Corrinthians 6:12)
The Christians in Corinth were misusing the freedom, claiming to be Christians in spite of their inapropriate behaviour: quarreling, theft, greed, drunkenness, and immoral relations. It is important to respect our bodies.
Think: 'You are nor your own'. How does Paul say this affect our freedom/ Freedom from what? Freedom for who?
How far do our relationship commit us? How can we harm the body of Christ? How can self-respect help us to respect others?

TOGETHER IN ONE BODY (1 Corinthians 12:12).
Paul compares the Christinan community to a body. The people in this body come from different places, have different roles, with different gifts, too, but they all have the same dignity.Think: What part of the body could be thought to be 'unpresentable'? Why do some people think they're better than others?
What can devide a community? What could help us to find and maintain unity? (Brice Deymie, chaplain general).

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