Your Body is a Sacred Place
This is a different devotional post, the first to include music that has resonated with me (and which I hope will resonate with you). Those who know me well know that I am a huge fan of the pop star, Kesha. I feel in many ways like Kesha’s music grew up alongside me, and whatever stage of life I found myself in, Kesha always has had music that met me where I was. Built into this, many of Kesha’s more recent albums have carried in them songs that struck me on a spiritual level and communicated a truth I had long felt in words that I could never have formed.
She released a new album last week (It is quite possibly her best to date). It marks a milestone of freedom, renewal, and truth-telling in her life, and one song resonated with me stronger than others. It’s a song she wrote about finally coming home to herself and being rooted in her faith and divinity. Today’s devotional is built around this song, and I hope it strikes you as beautifully as it struck me.
Your Body is a Sacred Place
Or didn’t you realize that your body is a sacred place, the place of the Holy Spirit? Don’t you see that you can’t live however you please, squandering what God did for you? The physical part of you is not some piece of property belonging to the spiritual part of you. It is all divine. So let people see God in and through your body.
1 Corinthians 9:19-20 (MSG edited)
Cathedral by Kesha
…
Let it in, the sunlight
It feels good and that’s alright
Touch my skin, love my past away
and, God, forgive all my mistakes
Maybe redemption, it thrives in the dark
My resurrection’s through my broken heart
Hope is a madman that hides in my mind
Oh, my God
I’m the cathedral
I’m finally coming home
Life was so lethal
But I’m the savior, I’m the altar, I’m the Holy Ghost
Pain was my ritual, fear my religion
But I was the one who needed forgiving
Oh, I’m, I’m the cathedral
…
True and Proper Worship
Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
(Romans 12:1-2a)
A Blessing for Your Week
Beloved Child of God,
Your very bones are a cathedral
Your every breath evidence of God
At work within you
In love with you
With your light and your darkness
May your broken heart set you free
Your darkness breed hope
That your whole person may tell truths
May your body and spirit unite
Releasing light into the world
And transforming each minute
With every breath you take
Amen.
Rev. Kelsey Sherazi 