Minister’s Message for September 2026

Theme: Radical Embodiment

Rev Abigail Schairer

 Hello, Beloved Community,

Each month, we’ve been exploring topics that Centers for Spiritual Living across the globe have also been engaging with — topics that have often been taboo in different religious teachings, and even in New Thought at times. Last month, we sat with fear and anger. This month, we turn toward something even closer to home: the body itself.

This month’s theme is “Radical Embodiment.”

Being a girl growing up in the ‘80s and ‘90s, I had certain messages about my body. In the ‘80s it was about being thin and toned and in the ‘90s it was about being “heroin chic.” The less your body takes up, the better. It wasn’t until I started NextGEN retreat and had some inspirational teammates that I first heard the term “body positive.” This is the idea that bodies come in an enormous range of forms, and none of those forms make a person more or less worthy of dignity, care, or belonging. We spent many discussions on body shaming and discrimination based on size or body shape. I’ve had conversations about this at our SisterSpirit retreats as well. And in my journey to be more awake regarding my own biases and stories about body size, I’ve had to unlearn what I learned as a teenager. I’m now learning to treat my body less like a problem and more like a temple to be honored — a source of wisdom rather than something to be embarrassed about. I’m still learning what it has to teach me, and I hope what I’ve found so far will be useful to you this month, too.

I’ve also been paying closer attention to the stories I never chose but absorbed anyway — about whose bodies are celebrated, whose are ignored, and whose are treated as a problem to solve. Radical embodiment, from the root, means going back to where those stories started and choosing, deliberately, what we keep.

This month, may we all come home to the body.

Blessings,

Abigail