Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise, the Rev. Laura Mariko Cheifetz tells PW’s 2024 Churchwide Gathering
October 11, 2024
The Rev. Laura Mariko Cheifetz offers a charge to conclude the opening devotion remembering recent gun violence and the anniversary of the Charleston shootings at the 222nd General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA) in Portland, Oregon, on June 18, 2016. (Photo by Michael Whitman)
At times, do you have negative thoughts playing in your head that conflict with the biblical statement, “I am fearfully and wonderfully made”?
If so, you’re not alone, according to the Rev. Laura Mariko Cheifetz, transitional associate pastor for Sunnyvale Presbyterian Church in Sunnyvale, California.
“God knit us together,” Cheifetz said. “We are created wonderfully and fearfully and yet, many, if not most of us, walk around with negative tapes going in the back of our heads. We could all keep therapists in business forever.”
Cheifetz made that declaration while speaking at the Presbyterian Women’s 2024 Churchwide Gathering, where she raised thought-provoking questions about envisioning body image, loving one’s neighbor and having the courage to love oneself.
“What message did you receive about your body as a girl, as a teenager?” Cheifetz asked. “If you gave birth or didn’t, what message did you receive about your body and its processes? If you were an older or a more seasoned person, what message did you receive about your body as it aged? Did you ever perceive your body as your enemy, as something that had to be controlled, as something that had to be modest in order not to tempt men?”
While continuing to raise uncomfortable questions, Cheifetz, who has served as an assistant dean at Vanderbilt Divinity School, revealed that some people have thought she looked “too white” or “too Asian.”
She went on to ask, “Did you have to unlearn some messages about your body to discover the truth? To learn that you are the right size, to learn that you are strong, to learn that you are capable, to learn that body hair or cellulite are not a measure of your humanity or your morality? To learn that hair and skin are racialized and enforcing beauty standards is both racist and misogynistic? To learn that you are the right shape, to learn that you are the right weight, to learn that you are beautiful?”
Dr. Veda Pendleton
In addition to nudging audience members to explore their own body image and inner dialogue, Cheifetz tied together how failing to love oneself can affect interactions with others. “When we do not love ourselves well, sometimes that bleeds over to how we treat other people,” she said. “When we do not love ourselves, we may not always be great at loving our neighbors.”
Cheifetz has experienced that negative treatment personally. “After living in this body, in this society, I know that I, as a biracial, queer Asian American of Japanese and Jewish descent, an ordained woman, I fall into several categories that are regularly dehumanized in our society,” she said.
She went on to say, “In the most broad sense, there are people out there who want me dead, or at least quiet,” so for Cheifetz, self-love means understanding “I am created in God’s image, that I am loved, that I deserve to be a human who is alive and free to live, that I live in a society that makes space for me to flourish. This, as you know, is not a given for all people.”
Cheifetz also showed how the importance of loving oneself intersects with forging helpful public policy and creating a less dangerous world.
“We deserve to be safe and valued,” she said. “Our bodies need health care. They need a clean environment. They need healthy food and safe outdoor spaces. They need community. They need a home free of abuse and violence. These bodies sometimes produce other humans who require education, child care, safe neighborhoods, safe schools free of bullying and gun violence and bomb threats and evacuations and hate crimes.”
Regarding the role of religion, she said, “When we are able to wake up in the morning and do what we are meant to do, and our families, neighborhoods, states and country support us in getting that done, we will feel loved and supported, and when the theology taught in our churches proves to us over and over again that we are loved and created in the image of God, we will be free to love ourselves,” she said. “After all, loving ourselves should not always have to be a revolutionary and defiant act.”
Darla Carter, Communications Strategist, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)
Daily Readings
Today’s Focus: Rev. Laura Mariko Cheifetz speaks at PW’s 2024 Churchwide Gathering
Let us join in prayer for:
PC(USA) Agencies’ Staff
Tim Stepp, Associate Director, Internal Audit, Administrative Services Group (A Corp)
Andrea Stevens, Charitable Gift Advisor, Presbyterian Foundation
Let us pray
God of the old and the new, the great and the small, thank you for the warmth of your love and the inspiration of your Spirit. May you continue to bring new life into your churches, that we might proclaim in a myriad of ways the wonders of your love. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
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