Excerpt from The Book of Common Courage

Religion said sanctification
meant making myself small.

The church handed me scissors
and commanded, Get to work.
Cut away all the parts of you
that are "flesh."

I became
more scissors
than a self.

I swallowed
a story of war
as grace.

I made
my mind a general,
barking orders
to march hard.

I declared
corporeal war
for spiritual gain.

Truth against tissue.
Faith against fear.
Holiness against the heart.

I named
my skin an enemy
to subjugate, my feelings
foes to fight, and my desires
rivals to oppose.

I marched
             until
                      I collapsed.

What good
is a Christian soldier
marching as to war
with the cross of Jesus
crushing them into the floor?

My body was never
territory to colonize.

But down on the ground,
in the dirt and the grime,
I could see past the lies
to a riven side.

Holes in hands
spoke peace to mine.

The scissors were never
spiritual. The war was never
divine. The truth was that
this body was already a place
with holiness inside.

Sanctification is like stitching
the sinew to the soul.
And grace is but a thread
sewing mind and body
whole.

The body is not a barrier
between the Bible and belief.
It is the tissue where tenderness
can speak the truth in relief:

your body
is already
the beloved
dwelling place
of God.