Life Everlasting I believe in the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.

Life Everlasting I believe in the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen. Which is our resurrection body? Will you look identical to how you did when you died? Or the body you had at your peak of vitality? So if you met someone at one age, you won’t recognise them in heaven because they will look much older – or much younger… We eat; the food is material for our cells to reproduce. Old cells die. Each of us has about 75 trillion cells. Red blood cells live for about four months, while white blood cells live on average more than a year. Skin cells live about two or three weeks. Cells in your bones change about 10% a year. Remembering your maths skills of how to calculate compound interest, your bones, your skeleton changes completely every 7 years. There’s only one or two types of cells that don’t get replaced – even that statement is complicated… It’s a bit like photocopying isn’t it? Cells making a copy of a copy of a copy… Ultimately the copies are of too poor quality. We die. So if “resurrection of the body” is not to be mocked as nonsense, we need to recognise a metaphorical dimension [while never giving in to “it’s just/merely/only a metaphor”]. You can use the model/metaphor of caterpillars and butterflies. St Paul in 1 Cor 15:35-50 uses the model/metaphor of seed and plant – there is continuity and change. Transformation. But someone will ask, ‘How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?’ Fool! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. And as for what you sow, you do not sow the body that is to be, but a bare seed, perhaps of wheat or of some other grain. But God gives it a body as he has chosen, and to each kind of seed its own body. … So it is with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable, what is raised is imperishable. It is sown in dishonour, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. It is sown a physical body, it is raised a spiritual body. … What I am saying, brothers and sisters, is this: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. The model/metaphor of having a body is similar. There was a time you were three years old – you probably remember it – your body now is mostly different. Continuity and change and transformation. Even notice the language we use. We say, “I have a body”. I have 75 trillion cells. Not “I am 75 trillion cells”. There is an “I” that was there when I was 3. And that I is still here now – changed, grown, transformed. The power at the heart of the universe, the power that launched the Big Bang, the power that creates and evolves life, the power that makes us thinking, feeling, loving beings, the power that rose Jesus from the dead, the power that the creed proclaims as God Father almighty, that power means that whatever happens All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well. https://liturgy.co.nz/the-communion-of-saints This is the thirty-second post in a series on the Creed. The first is Apostles’ Creed. https://liturgy.co.nz/apostles-creed The second is I believe in God. https://liturgy.co.nz/i-believe-in-god The third is a source of the Apostles’ Creed. https://liturgy.co.nz/a-source-of-the-apostles-creed The fourth is I believe in the Father. https://liturgy.co.nz/i-believe-in-the-father The fifth is Handing over the Creed. https://liturgy.co.nz/handing-over-the-creed The sixth is I believe in Jesus Christ, God’s only Son https://liturgy.co.nz/i-believe-in-jesus-christ-gods-only-son The seventh is Don’t use the creed in worship https://liturgy.co.nz/dont-use-the-creed-in-worship They eighth is Truly God truly human https://liturgy.co.nz/truly-god-truly-human The ninth is Conceived by the Holy Spirit https://liturgy.co.nz/conceived-by-the-holy-spirit The tenth is Don’t use the creed in worship (part 2) https://liturgy.co.nz/dont-use-the-creed-in-worship-part-2 The eleventh is Born of the Virgin Mary https://liturgy.co.nz/born-of-the-virgin-mary The twelfth is Don’t use the creed in worship (part 3) https://liturgy.co.nz/dont-use-the-creed-in-worship-part-3 The thirteenth is Crucified under Pontius Pilate https://liturgy.co.nz/crucified-under-pontius-pilate The fourteenth is crucified https://liturgy.co.nz/crucified The fifteenth is Holy Saturday https://liturgy.co.nz/holy-saturday-2 This sixteenth is He descended to the dead https://liturgy.co.nz/he-descended-to-the-dead-2 The seventeenth is on the third day he rose again https://liturgy.co.nz/he-descended-to-the-dead-2 The eighteenth is Seated at the right hand of the Father https://liturgy.co.nz/seated-at-the-right-hand-of-the-father The nineteenth is Judge the living and the dead https://liturgy.co.nz/judge-the-living-and-the-dead The twentieth is I believe in the Holy Spirit https://liturgy.co.nz/i-believe-in-the-holy-spirit The twenty-first is But Wait, There’s More! https://liturgy.co.nz/but-wait-theres-more The twenty-second is And the Son https://liturgy.co.nz/and-the-son The twenty-third is Filioque https://liturgy.co.nz/filioque The twenty-fourth is Two hands of God https://liturgy.co.nz/two-hands-of-god The twenty-fifth is Don’t believe in the Church https://liturgy.co.nz/i-believe-the-church The twenty-sixth is I believe one Church https://liturgy.co.nz/i-believe-one-church The twenty-seventh is I believe in holy church https://liturgy.co.nz/i-believe-in-holy-church The twenty-eighth is I believe in catholic church https://liturgy.co.nz/i-believe-in-catholic-church The twenty-ninth is I believe in apostolic church https://liturgy.co.nz/i-believe-in-apostolic-church The thirtieth is The Communion of Saints https://liturgy.co.nz/the-communion-of-saints The thirty-first is The Forgiveness of Sins https://liturgy.co.nz/the-forgiveness-of-sins