Fraternity-Testvériség, 1992 (70. évfolyam, 1-4. szám)

1992-10-01 / 4. szám

FRATERNITY

Page 7

HEALTH ASSURANCE! ANYONE?

Text: I Cor. 3:16

When was the last time when you heard a good sermon on physical fitness? You can’t remember? You are not alone! In our pulpits, unfortunately, this subject is among the most neglected ones. This is certainly puzzling because the Bible has a great deal to say about the importance of our bodies. At the time of creation bodies were formed by God. Physical health was considered a definite gift in the Old Testament where multitudes of laws were enacted to protect it. In the New Testament, whenever our Lord healed spiritual sickness physical impairments were restored also. The Good Samaritan saved the “body” of the unfortunate and was seemingly impervious concerning his spiritual condition. Christ was a marvelous walker all over the Holy Land. He was acquainted with fasting (40 days); so were the disciples who had the endurance to fish all night long. Could you walk non stop to Emmaus, 7 miles from Jerusalem, talking and not running out of breath? (Luke 24:13) It is also interesting to remember that the “body” did make it into the Apostles’ Creed while the “soul” did not!

The significance of our physical body was elevated to the highest level by Saint Paul in I Cor. 3:16 when he states: “Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? If any one destroys God’s temple God will destroy him. For God’s temple is holy, and that temple you are.” This idea that the body and the spirit together constitute man is not only deeply Biblical but also agrees with the newest findings of modern medicine. The so-called holistic approach emphasizes that inseparable connections exist in the total of man’s body, mind, and spirit. Physicians today realize that all three should be treated together! Richard E. Hunton, M.D. vividly describes the sad condition of people living in an industrial society: “The average American constitutes a horrible example of fitness. Physically, he or she is rundown and on the pudgy side. He nibbles erratically on a grossly unbalanced diet, pollutes his body’s ventilating system with noxious gases, guzzles poisonous beverages by the gallon and each day sits languidly before his television set some ten to fifteen times longer than he spends exercising his body.” (Formula for Fitness, p.7.)

Can we say that this is true among our people, even more among the clergy? Yes, with certain exceptions, unfortunately, this is true. But how can we, ministers of Jesus Christ, stand before the world and make a convincing and attractive witness if our bodies reflect the irresponsible lifestyle mentioned above? We Hungarians are particularly hard pressed. Most of our delicious national dishes or pastries were created in a life mode which no longer

exists, especially in this country. It was appropriate to consume high calories and cholesterol-rich nourishment when you had to walk to your field ten miles and work in the open air all day. But today in a sedentary, stressful life those delicacies of the past can simply kill us! It is both amazing and distressing to see how fast we can finish up large quantities of szalonna and kolbász at a Ligonier bacon frying occasion.

What can we do in such situation? Unless we learn to control our oral pleasure and culturalization, obesity and physical misfitness will permanently follow us. We need to spiritualize the importance of our bodies, as God- given temples for which we take responsibility as good stewards. Caring for the body should be a harmonious part of our spiritual discipline. In the history of Christian spirituality the concept and practice of fasting has always been present. In some areas of Hungary fasting is still part of one’s preparation for The Holy Supper. (I have many elderly church members who adhere yet to this ancient custom.) The purpose of fasting is to control our appetites so as to let the spirit rule over the body! Insatiability of food will lead inevitably to gluttony, traditionally recognized by The Church as one of “the seven deadly sins.” Again we can quote Paul when he advises Timothy to “use a little wine for the sake of your stomach (I Tim. 5:23) and the emphasis is on little. His advocation of moderation certainly can be applied to food as well.

Thank God, being overweight does not have to be a permanently hopeless condition! A well-balanced low fat diet combined with daily moderate exercise will bring remarkable results. What would the easiest, most convenient, least expensive physical activity be that brings you the most benefits? Imitate Christ and his disciples in this respect also: be a walker. A brisk 30 minute walk four to five times a week in three short months could change your life. In addition to permanent weight loss the additional results are most impressive. Let me motivate you with a few! You can expect more energy, more resistance to illness, more resistance to stress, less susceptibility to injury, less anxiety, a lower risk of some degenerative diseases like heart problems, diabetes, high blood pressure, cancer. You will have stronger bones, a reverse of osteoporosis, stronger, more efficient heart and lungs, a lowering resting pulse. You will have a better self-image, more self-confidence and sociability. You will have a sharper mind and longer life. In addition, because many of our ministers in the Calvin Synod must, for variety of reasons, serve a church beyond the usual retirement age, it is an imperative that we the clergy pay particular attention to the question of physical condition.