Divine Bodies: Created in God’s Image by Julia Nusbaum

Divine Bodies: Created in God’s Image

—Julia Nusbaum

Day 1 of 3: Unlearning What the Church Taught Us about Our Bodies

"You created my inmost being and stitched me together in my mother’s womb. For all these mysteries I thank you— For the wonder of myself, my soul knows it well"
-Psalms 139:13-14 (Inclusive Bible)

Where I grew up, in the rural Midwest, the nondenominational Evangelical church had the “cool” youth group. It had the youth pastor who sported Chuck Taylor sneakers and zip-up hoodie sweatshirts. It had an entire building dedicated only to its youth group. And in that building, there were basketball courts and even a coffee shop. If you were a Christian kid in my community, this was the place.

But what I didn’t understand was that it also had a culture of teaching young women and men to be ashamed of their bodies, their sexuality, and everything that came with those loaded topics. I attended that youth group Sunday after Sunday hearing sermons that would stay with me for a very long time.

What I learned in that youth group followed me to college, making me afraid of relationships and so often ashamed of my own body. I hid from myself and from others. I hid parts of my personality, too because I didn’t know how to reconcile the God I was given in that Midwestern church with the God I was learning about as I studied religion—a God who didn’t want me to be afraid of myself, my creativity, my sexuality. Rather, a God who had crafted and created me in an image of wonder and likeness.

The hard-edged God of my childhood has slowly slipped away in my adult years. Replaced with a God more mysterious, but also more loving. And my body has become my own. Something I love and know and take care of. Something that is just as wonderful (and mysterious) as the God who crafted it.

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