Sunday 7^th September 2025

There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. (Galatians 3:28)

A theology of belly buttons?

The beginning of a new year can bring many challenges to our identity as we think about ‘who we are’ – the chance to forge a new identity at a new school or university.

So often our culture tells us ‘be true to yourself’ or ‘just do you’ – that as we look inside ourselves, this is where we truly discover who we are. Jean-Paul Sartre (1929-80) once said “man is nothing other than what he makes of himself. That is the first principle of existentialism.”  This idea still lingers: be whoever you want to be. Don’t let anyone tell you who you are, it’s up to you to make something of yourself.

As mentioned earlier in the summer, I am reading a  book called ‘You’re only Human’ by Kelly Kapic which reflects on our limits as humans. As Kapic notes though, our culture’s vision of creating our own meaning and value “can be so enormous and exhausting.” Yes, we do shape our lives, but this never happens in a vacuum or outside of a particular context.  Perhaps we can often have an opposite tendency as Christians though – so affirming who we are now in Christ, that we forget any sense of our createdness – our history, family background, context, what has shaped us.

So who am I? Kapic encourages us to consider our belly buttons!

“we owe our very existence to others. We all have biological parents: we are part of a genealogy and have received a particular DNA. The belly button…has profound theological importance. It is our body’s way of reminding us that we are not self-made people, we are not separate islands, we are not merely rugged individuals. Instead we are inevitably and necessarily bound together with others: it has been so from the beginning and will always be.”

Rather than liberating us, a turn in on ourselves for our identity can actually lead to great loneliness and self-doubt.

So remember your belly button – Christian, you’re not an isolated individual, but a finite creature, dependent on others; made in God’s image, yes distorted by sin, but gloriously redeemed through Jesus; being renewed by God and brought together in Christ with people from all over the world, and known by our good Creator. Praise God!

Heavenly Father, help me to remember that I am a dependent creature in need of others. Thank you that I belong to you, my Creator and Redeemer, brought together in Christ as part of your great family in all its rich diversity. Amen

With love in Christ,

Ben Wells (Associate Minister)