It's titled "Fat and Faithful: Learning to Love Our Bodies, Our Neighbors and Ourselves."
The author is a self-described fat Lutheran, J. Nicole Morgan.
In an interview featured in the November issue of "The Living Lutheran," Morgan describes her book as "a little bit memoir, a little bit theology." It features stories, she says, of congregational life for fat people, and it seeks to explore the meaning of "made in the image of God" as it applies to people who carry extra weight,
The "Living Lutheran" interviewer elicited from Morgan some broad but on-target insights: that a fat body is often seen as a sign of sin (gluttony?); that other people in the pews may assume a large person lacks the "fruit of the Spirit" known as self-control; that people might even think a fat person isn't really a Christian, because they view her body as a walking billboard of brokenness.
What I didn't see in the interview, not much anyway, is discussion of some practical realities of living large in Lutherdom.
I'm a baptized and confirmed Lutheran (Evangelical Lutheran Church in America) who found her way back to Lutherdom after sojourns in evangelical Christianity (fundamentalism) and a few late-teens and early-20s years as an avowed agnostic ("Religion is just a crutch for people who can't think for themselves").
My faith identity -- a follower of Jesus Christ first, and a Lutheran second -- is, in my mind, no more of a "choice" than the color of my eyes. Overweight, underweight or with an on-target BMI, this is who I am.
I've been a fat Lutheran, and the statistics showing the low rate of long-term success for major weight loss suggest it's possible, even likely, I'll be a fat Lutheran again someday.
And I can tell you, I'm far, far from alone.
A tendency toward heaviness runs in my family and in my husband's family. Just by eyeballing almost any typical Midwestern Lutheran congregation, I can see that same hereditary tendency in many Lutherans who share the northern European heritage that Jay and I claim.
We Lutherans have another tendency. We love to eat, and what we eat, usually in mass quantities, are the foods we've craved from childhood -- breads, donuts, rolls, butter, cream-soup hotdishes, gravies, potatoes, cheesy food, fried food, white rice, white pasta-- foods that fill us without fueling us.
So I think it's a tad hypocritical for Lutherans, as a group, to judge fat people as lacking self-control, while we fill our plates multiple times at potlucks, and gulp down pastries at coffee hour.
Should we offer adult forums about healthy cooking techniques and portion sizes? Should we make sure fresh fruits and vegetables are available whenever we serve donuts and rolls? Should the Luther League's Easter breakfast include low-fat high-protein egg dishes and sugar-free juices?
In the "Living Lutheran" interview, Morgan talks at some length about how the church can create a welcoming atmosphere for people of all body sizes and shapes, simply by asking what accommodations they might need.
- The chairs in the fellowship hall and Sunday School classrooms: Are they large enough, and sturdy enough, for a large person to sit comfortably? Flimsy folding chairs, or those stackable chairs with rigid armrests, are nightmares for people of girth.
- The toilets in the restrooms: Are they the kind that attach to the wall? Large people won't use such toilets, because there's a very real possibility that the commodes will break off the wall when a heavy person sits on them.
- The pews: A lot of churches have replaced the sturdy wooden sanctuary benches with chairs. At my church, the chairs are sturdy, they're spacious and they're flexible in how they can be configured -- as separate seating, or strung together to look like pews. If a worshipper needs to occupy more than one chair, that accommodation is there. (And by the way, pew kneeling rails are a deal-breaker for me. When I was much larger, and before my knee was fixed, they were a taste of hell. I don't use them when I attend Catholic Masses.)
- Communion: Are people required or encouraged to kneel at the rail? That can be very difficult, not only for large people, but also for people with joint issues. I like how my church serves Communion by intinction -- dip the wafer (gluten-free wafers are available) in the wine or grape juice, standing up. I have yet to see a Lutheran church, however, try something that I truly treasured in my years in a United Church of Christ congregation -- serving Communion in the pews. Not only is this an accommodation for people who can't walk comfortably; partaking of the bread and wine in unison created in me -- in a congregation that regarded Communion as a mere representation of Christ -- the sensation of Christ's Real Presence in the body of believers around me.
Maybe, in her book, Morgan has suggested all these ideas, and many others I'd never considered.
I can't wait to read it and find out.
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