Back in the day, I sometimes watched Mystery Science Theater 3000. Remember this show? This show was comprised of two robots and a guy in silhouette making fun of B movies or 1950s educational films. It was hilarious. One of my favorites was them mocking an educational film called Posture Pals. These perfect, adorable, and very attentive children were being taught about the importance of posture and they were posture pals, who helped each other improve their posture so that could win in life.

I loved it, because they robots were so funny and the whole idea of children being posture pals to one another was ludicrous. Who cares about posture!? Well, I eventually did learn to care when I got old enough to get neck pain and headaches from my horrible posture. Joke’s on me!

Posture really does matter. Even how we hold our bodies matters, as science is showing. The shapes we make with our bodies influence our mood and confidence. Oddly perhaps, people have studied this stuff, so it’s not just the posture nerds around you who will say posture matters. It really does. The shape we make in our bodies even changes our hormone levels, including testosterone and cortisol. So, it’s not too surprising our shape can form our interior reality which then informs and shapes our external reality.

(We did an experiment of holding our bodies in different shapes and saying: I am a wonderfully made child of God and God loves me. Try it!)

Who knew posture matters so much?! It matters for ourselves, but it also matters as we come into relationship with others. Our body language communicates a lot. We can show others that we are friendly and open. We can show others that we do not want to talk or do not want to be approached. All sorts of stuff.

And when we communicate our internal reality with our shape, we bring a whole swirl of energy and information into the room wherever we go. So, our shape not only informs our internal reality but also shapes our relationships and how the world engages with us. It’s weird, but true.

Given that this is so, it’s strange we spend so little time thinking about posture and how we hold ourselves. However, we all know there are people who can walk into a room and everyone automatically feels better. There are people who have an inner calm, a peace that is palpable that they shift all of us. One calm person can change a whole group of people. The opposite can also be true, sadly. But that’s part of how we operate. We are susceptible to the “contagion” of each other’s energies or states of being.

So, I wonder about what that was like for the earliest disciples of Jesus, just to be with him. It would have been life changing, even without him even saying a word. No wonder people just followed him around. He perhaps have just made people feel hopeful or less afraid. To be in the presence of Jesus would have been to be in the presence of our Creator God, who loves us, made us, knows us, wants the best for us, forgives us, and is creating new life for us all the time.

How would that experience have shaped you? Internally, how would that have felt? And how would that have impacted how you feel and how you hold yourself? Your muscles? Your posture? Your sense of peace?

Thankfully, we don’t have to miss out on the Jesus experience. Jesus says in our text today, “Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.” Your body and world is the home of God. Does it feel like that? Do we hold ourselves like that?

When we study scripture, when we come to church and immerse ourselves in the Word, when we pray, we are perhaps this is like fluffing the pillows for God, tidying up the unnecessary worries that take up so much space in us so that Christ can stretch out a bit in Christ’s own home in you. Making space for the presence of the God who loves you, created you, wants the best for you, and forgives you is indeed here with you, in you, around you, and in your relationships with people and all of Creation.

Just to be clear, let me say we do not earn our way to God by doing these things. God is here regardless of whatever it is we do. However, we can participate in our relationship with God. We can set the table for God. And we can allow God to change us, to even our shape (how we hold our body) and our presence with others. God’s presence in us, in these changes in us, impacts the world around us, through us, and in us.

I hope you notice in all of our texts, God is described as coming to us. Lydia hears the word of God in Paul’s teaching that was guided by God’s vision. In the Revelation text, the new Jerusalem and this wonderful vision of living without fear or deprivation comes to us from God. And in the John text, Jesus talks about the gift of the Holy Spirit, that he himself is going but is also coming, and that with him is God and the Spirit. The gifts of God are here, given now and in the future. It’s a gift that is given now and keeps on giving, keeps on changing the world.

So, again, I wonder about how this gift shapes us and how we in turn shape others and the world around us. You may have noticed that the world sometimes aims to shape us in different ways. We can be shaped by fear or despair. We can be shaped by greed or anxiety. We can be shaped by sadness and shame. Of course, at various times, we will all move through these shapes, but ideally, we don’t stay locked in these shapes forever. Ideally, we come back to our resting shape that is formed by God’s Trinitarian presence in us. The shape of peace, ease, and knowledge of God’s grace for us. So, maybe that means for you easy shoulders, a soft face, a strong spine, and an open heart.

In this way, we can experience our ongoing conversion in our bodies, as well as in our hearts and lives. I think of conversion as being a slow process. Slowly, over time, we come to trust that the world is good. We soften our knee-jerk reaction to judge and give each other the benefit of the doubt. We open our hands to give with generosity, knowing we can always respond faithfully. Slowly we come to see God in all people, all moments instead of focusing primarily on what is wrong. Slowly we move towards a union of sorts when we see the world through God’s eyes; eyes of love, beauty, and compassion.

If I had to guess, I’d say we’re all in the messy middle of conversion to God’s great vision for us and for the world. But as we come to church, pray, read the scripture, practice love in the world, or somehow come into the presence of God and the divine, we are changed, slowly reformed into the shape of Christ. As this happens to us, it also happens to those around us. The love of God is contagious in a way. Our shape, our way of being in the world creates ripples all around us, just as we are impacted by the ripples of others.

Occasionally we get a glimpse of God’s kingdom, the promise of the goodness of Creation coming into its full potential and power. We get a glimpse of this reality that is already present with us, and is also not yet fully here. When we do, we are again further formed into the shape that is God’s intention for us for the sake of us and for the sake of everyone who we encounter.

So, even though I laughed at the ridiculousness of the posture pals, I see now that I need my posture pals. I need you, this church and the wise ones around me, to remind me to stand with good posture when I’m slouching. And I need reminders of God’s provision through community as well as Scripture and prayer, that I can indeed release the tension and embrace Jesus’ peace because God is good and is here. We all need our posture pals, friends. That’s why we’re here to hear the Word, to enter into prayer, and build our fellowship of disciples. So, when we are knocked all out of shape by life, here among us are Christ-shaped people to help us remember, rest, and be reshaped in faith.

AMEN