Physicality of our Spirituality
I recently read the book "Church Re-imagined" by Doug Pagitt. It is a record of the spiritual formation model of a rather "avant-garde" church. One of the chapters talks about how they pay attention to the physical aspect of our faith and how spiritual formation can be achieved through physical means. Here are some quotes that I find inspiring:
Implications to me:
1. Rethinking about worship. Our worship now tends to be about the mind. Can we worship through our body too? Jesus installed a very bodily ritual - the Holy Communion - for us to worship him. Can we be more creative in our means to worship?
2. If our spirituality is linked to our body, health becomes an important "spiritual" issue. We cannot worship God to our best when we do not take good care of our body.
What do you think?
"Receiving spiritual formation online or from a sermon tape in the car may be convenient, but these versions of 'church' pale in comparison to the physical act of entering a worship space with our community, seeing each other, touching each other, even being distracted by each other."
"It shouldn't be surprising... that communion is a central element of our weekly gatherings... Communion serves not only as a time of remembrance, but also as a full-body participatory experience."
"One of the most exciting aspects of this pursuit of physical expressions of faith is the use of the body as a means of prayer. It's fascinating to me that physical postures - kneeling, raising our arms, placing our palms up - can lead our thoughts into a deeper state of prayer and meditation. In this process, the mind comes under the reign of the body in a way that cannot be forced but seems to come from a genuine connectedness between what we do and what we think."
"The church has so thoroughly given up acknowledging the role of the body in spirituality that many Christians mistakenly see this as the primary difference between Christianity and the New Age. Some even assert that Christianity is about the mind and the spirit while the New Age is about the body and the spirit. What makes this so bizarre is that, when it comes to physical spirituality, the best transcendental meditation class can't hold a candle to the faith that proclaims the incarnation and bodily resurrection and the God who is One. We are a physical people when we follow Jesus."
Implications to me:
1. Rethinking about worship. Our worship now tends to be about the mind. Can we worship through our body too? Jesus installed a very bodily ritual - the Holy Communion - for us to worship him. Can we be more creative in our means to worship?
2. If our spirituality is linked to our body, health becomes an important "spiritual" issue. We cannot worship God to our best when we do not take good care of our body.
What do you think?
Labels: Reflection
2.
God has healed and delivered me from years of disordered eating. Allow me to share my experence with you in response to your thought on physical spirituality.
The flesh is a personal gift from the Creator.
The body is the house of the soul.
The body bears life in allowing the inhabitation of the spirit man.
The body is subject to the influence of the mind and spirit.
The body is God's temple.
Mundane in appearance
Profound in the depth of truth
Ill or well
Destroyed or nurtured
this IS HIS DWELLING PLACE.
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Anonymous |
June 03, 2006 12:54 AM