November 30: Soul

November 30 - #AdventWord #Soul

Well, I guess we can’t mention “souls” in the Episcopal Church without trotting out the old adage, attributed to C. S. Lewis, “You do not have a soul. You are a soul. You have a body.”  It’s obviously the thing to do, even if no one is quite sure whether he actually said it, or not.  But, nothing is more universal than death, and it is understandable that this quotation was, and is, widespread because people want to be assured of their future. We must be mindful, however, that we are embodied creatures with the promise of an embodied resurrection. Jesus incarnated in a body and resurrected with a body, so let us be careful about minimizing our own.  I find this as both a call for us to take care of our mortal bodies in this life, but also to look with hope, for you are a body.  But, you’re a soul too.  And our human flourishing is contingent upon being soul-bodied things.

—The Very Rev. Wil Keith, rector of Holy Cross Faith Memorial Episcopal Church, Pawleys Island, and a member of Diocesan Council