Please allow me a preamble to this post…
To mention, or not to mention, that is always the question for me. I have a lot of considerations when speaking in public, one of the many is whether to name people or not. Since I started speaking in public as a teenager, I have learned to name people when there is good news to tell about them, and to give them anonymity where I perceive a character flaw. I rarely name someone in public just because of them, good or not. I am often sharing based on the potential benefit the sharing would be to the critical masses. I know some very amazing people with no platform, and I know some horrible people with big followings, so none of that moves me. What moves me is characteristics, but I will say more about this later. I also have no desire to be the judge of the flaws of any one person as so many seem eager to speak ill of people lately. I seek to and hope to be following God’s guidance when I choose to expose someone, for good or not good deeds.
Like much of life, mentioning/naming someone is a layered proposition. Sometimes I don’t name my friends because I realize that it exposes them to people for who they may not have the energy, or may not have the inclination to digest, or just not their cup of tea, and that’s okay. I am a firm believer in chemistry (the nth person 😉). This led me to understand that everyone’s chemistry is not the same, and that is not a problem although sometimes western socialization leads us to conclusions of enemy making. What pushes me to give people credit and tag them on posts of theirs that aren’t run of the mill, is that I want to give them credit. Then, at some points I became more conscious of the many ways people engage social media. Some don’t want people they don’t know engaging with them, they only want to engage those they know IRL (in real life). I educate people about social media for personal use, many educate people about using it as a business tool. Some people engage social media because it is a necessary evil of their work, and still, others want to grow their audience and influence where public posts abound. I am somewhere in between. I like my introverted privacy, and the challenge to that is I have something to say to the public.
I am discreet because I don’t believe my private life is for public consumption, some do, some don’t. I don’t. One of the times that mentions are important to me is when someone who is mostly my personal friend says something that the public needs to know. This is one of those occasions. In one of my conversations with a friend and colleague in the hope and the inspiration of liberation, I was grappling for a term about God that represents my worldview. I was sharing a vision I had that left me wanting for a more applicable understanding. In response, he shared that he believes we are actually “cells in the body of God”. As soon as I heard those words in the context of our conversation and my grappling, like I said, it was like a cosmic vibration connected all the dots I had. I sometimes struggle with the language that genders God but this concept zipped up my understanding on a micro to macro level. I imagine that speaking of God should be a challenge, many people over history have expressed the challenge, and there are biblical accounts of the same inability to capture God in a word.
When Corey said, “We are cells in the body of God”, I had so many answers in that instant! On this occasion, I heard him profoundly. He thinks he told me before that day - could be. That day the phrase rang true and through - it reverberated profoundly. I have had so many things on my mind for the past 30 years that I have been hearing him, some stuff was for then, and some stuff is clearly for now. On another occasion I asked him to tell me the story behind it and I remember that he said he was in high school in the 80s with a church background when he first thought of it. I finally caught up with him for a refresher on his take about this concept and he reminded me that it is something that has evolved over time. It is part of how he, and frankly, I see the world in this respect. We both imagine the unimaginable existence… the totality of existence in the cosmos as being the body of God, and our connection to all of creation. We also agree that we are a reflection of nature, and nature is a reflection of us, especially inasmuch as nature reflects God, as we are made in the image of God which is unavoidable since God created nature and should have God’s stamp on it as well.
Corey shared the notion of how the fact that a person’s ability to expand their capacity for any area of human activity displays divinity. I chimed in with the micro and macro of things, explaining that I shared several links about perspective on the original post entry. I thought about all the different cells and atoms, electricity and the spark that caused the event horizon that raised Jesus from the dead. I highly recommend this video that I saw many years ago which I found embedded in that article that explains it in detail. In revisiting the concept while furiously keeping up with notetaking, I had to pause our conversation to say again, that there are so many places I can take this idea. He further shared that the ability to grow in compassion or to grow in understanding, as an example, is an expression of the divine. There are many pathways to a human expanding their capacity and many expressions of expansion.
The vision of the expanse has a starting point and as expansion unfolds, the limits of the current state of growth are outer points and everything inside the expanse is what has been learned. Any of those tools can work at different times in our life, sometimes the tools expire, and new tools need to be discovered or developed - the kick off of another expanse - transition. Transition is often a painful process for at least one of the humans involved in evolving. Sometimes whole countries can exhibit growing pains as well. We even imagine that when people transition from this plane of existence to heaven or the next plane, we are the ones in pain and they are no longer. I even see how the spark can be interpreted as pain since it fires change.
When we were talking, I added that since our universe is expanding, some believe from the singularity from which it started. I believe that singularity was sparked by “Let there be Light” (aka the Big Bang), and I agree with the experts, that it has been expanding ever since. He then shared that we are the consumption of our thoughts. I can certainly see how what we digest/consume in terms of thinking is what we manifest. I can also see that our thoughts (electricity) are the catalyst for movement, or the lack of it is cause for stagnation as well.
He went on to discuss our “genetic understanding of the world” where he discussed our families of origin and their influence. I, then ran with DNA, ancestral memory and all these generational concepts of pathways to be torn up, perfected, reconsidered and such. When I initially heard him well about this, I explained that I was going to run with it, and I did. I have been sharing the idea with many of my friends over the time, and I got to watch their lightbulbs go off with enthusiasm for it. I have heard stories about friends sharing with their friends like that shampoo commercial from the eighties.
I am sure that the information I have been sharing, and am about to share, is far from an exhaustive list of parallels and characteristics. I have literally weighed this idea against everything I know doctrinally, and it is truer than what I have often heard preached. I have even heard someone go far with a human body analogy, which was on track to my understanding but got completely off as they attempted to integrate I Corinthians 12 and the analogous human body parts. 🙄 As I went through the school of ministry I attended, I weighed many ideas against the gospel as I have heard it taught over the years. I am thankful that I have often found the words of the Bible confirming of science, and in some cases ahead of it. I am thankful that there isn’t much in my life to which the Bible isn’t perfectly applicable - not to what people teach, but the actual Bible. It’s empowering to perceive and learn the difference between tradition and the gospel. I have noticed that many people don’t take what they learn, in any venue and apply it to their lives. They seem to be gathering up knowledge to make themselves look good, or just to pass an academic test, in some cases, apparently not to pass many life tests.
I have often heard that “God’s math isn’t ours” presented as if it is unattainable, but I find that it is perceivable. What is in the macro with God is in the micro of life as well… There are countless examples of this. I hope to see some in the comments. There is a common take on this that you can check out by searching the internet for how our cells reveal God. That, for me is an example of the micro or even the macro, depending on one's perspective. The most common one I hear is about the design of roots and the nerves of the brain. Take the analogy anyway you want, you will realize God’s attribute of constancy. Yesterday I told a friend that I am keen on following characteristics because it is as reliable as “follow the money” is in an investigation.
Also, think about all the characteristics of cells in the body, following the micro to macro idea, there is also the analogous application of us as cells in the body of God. In my anti-(rac)ism work, the importance of the coalescing of cells in coalition building is essential to strategic transformation. In the human body cells play a lot of different roles. I will do my best to take the macro idea of cells to show the analogy in organic human movement, indigeneity.
According to my source, there are 4 main types of cells:
Epithelial Cells. These cells are tightly attached to one another. They cover over the interior of hollow organs, like blood vessels or digestive organs, or else form the surface of things, like the skin. There are dozens of types of epithelial cells. Without epithelial cells, you would have no skin to protect your body from injury and would have no stomach to digest your food!
Nerve Cells. These cells are specialized for communication. They send signals from the brain to muscles and glands that control their functions. They also receive sensory information from the skin, the eyes, and the ears, and send this information to the brain. There are dozens of varieties of nerve cells in the body, each with their own shapes and functions. You would have no consciousness or control over your body without nerve cells.
Muscle Cells. These cells are specialized for contraction. Without muscle cells, you would not be able to move! There are three kinds of muscle cells. They pull and tug on bones and tendons to produce motion. They also form the thick outer walls of hollow organs, like blood vessels and digestive organs, and can contract to regulate the diameter of these hollow organs.
Connective Tissue Cells. These cells provide structural strength to the body and also defend against foreign invaders like bacteria. Two types of cells—fibroblasts and fat cells—are native to connective tissue. Other cells migrate into connective tissue from the bloodstream to fight diseases. Special types of connective tissue—cartilage and bone—are designed to be stronger and more rigid than most connective tissues.
The skin producing cells (Epithelial Cells) are like those cells (people) who make sure everything is covered. In the macro, it is like the philanthropic and non-profits that weave together to make sure there is a social safety net – in a healthy democracy, in cooperation with the government. The Nerve Cells are the communicators. On the macro level, it is like the media networks and conglomerates (in need of rehabilitation) and on the micro, it is people like me who speak, write and consciously hone their communication skills to deliver messages. The Muscle Cells remind me of trainers, coaches and otherwise encouragers big teams and small. There are days I even must encourage myself. 😉 The Connective Tissue Cells are like our medical professionals, sanitation workers, therapists and any group that works together to keep our society healthy. On the micro, you can see that it is our personal sanitization efforts that represent that.
I think of each human as their own ecosystem. If you take that analogy and run with it you will see a lot in it, maybe an idea to unpack in another blog because this one is long enough already.
These are just some notions with which, I hope you will run. I am sure that medical professionals may be able to take them much farther since they know way more about cells than most of us. I haven’t found a limit to this key Corey Glover provided me. I just wanted to make sure that I put his idea on the record, so if it catches on there will be somewhere to point as the origin of it. I have tried to imagine the body of God as it encompasses all there is in the cosmos down to the smallest organism. These site helps me to expand my perspective, I hope they help you with yours:
I hope this blog entry sparks something new in you. I look forward to your comments and feedback as usual! Please spread the word…
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