Friday May 27, 2011Introduction
For emergent Christians, worship, to be fully realized, must include the engagement of the whole body – the physical human. Implied in this insistence on bringing the fullness of our beings to worship is the desire to keep moving beyond the separation of body, mind, and spirit and to fully experience the sacred integration of our whole being.
In this edition of i n s i g h t we open ten "windows" of body insight, all of which point to ways that our lives in Spirit and faith are enriched by our desire for interconnection between our hearts, minds, souls, and bodies.
by Tim Scorer
The growing presence of labyrinth paths in faith communities over the last 20 years has been a remarkable unplanned gift of Spirit. The labyrinth crept quietly into our contemporary lives thanks to the visionary energy of Lauren Artress, who seeded the ancient labyrinth in 1991 at Grace Cathedral in San Francisco. (See her book Walking a Sacred Path: Rediscovering the Labyrinth as a Spiritual Practice
.)
Walking the labyrinth path is a subtle exercise of embodied spirituality: here’s the path; ...
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by Tim Scorer
Sometimes when I’m walking a labyrinth in community, I’m reminded of the sacred act of walking with friends to receive communion in church. In both situations we choose to walk toward union with the holy: in the case of the labyrinth, to the physical centre; in communion, to the place where bread and wine are received...
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by Tim Scorer
What are some of the ways that we can draw on group process to advance our interest in worship that honours God as the one who gave us miraculous bodies, not only for sports, sex, work, play, eating, but also for worship? Here’s a suggestion...
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by Lindsay McLaughllin
One can sometimes think of liturgical dance as a means by which professionals or well-trained amateurs enhance the worship experience using dance with religiously themed musical accompaniment. That understanding of the art form limits its profound possibilities for deepening the spiritual journey of anyone who can lift their hands and breathe. If “liturgy” means “the work of the people” then the people can do “liturgical” dance.
The founding mother of the dance-in-worship movement, Carla De Sola, opens her seminal handbook of dance, The Spirit Moves, with a prayer:
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by Ellen Turnbull
There’s a reason it’s called body language. Something like 70 percent of our communicating is done through our body (most of it subconsciously). This is pretty sophisticated stuff – giving and receiving signals from within and without all the time – signals that are meaningful on some level to our body and to others, and truthful. And we don’t have to say a word!
Body language means we are interconnected with all life and Spirit through the mechanisms of our bodies.
In this video clip, some people use their energies to make a case for social justice by dancing in the aisles.
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by Mary Millerd
Union is the relationship of body and Spirit, something that our small egos get a glimpse of from time to time. Avoidance of pain and chasing after our desires are a couple of distractions that get in the way of experiencing our wholeness. If we release our intellect from having to “figure it all out and make it right,” we can sink into our body and let ourselves feel our experience.
Great singers talk about how their whole body resonates each note they sing...
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by Jaco J. Hamman
Play is powerful. When we play, we engage an act of humanization – we reclaim some of our God-intended nature. We also see glimpses of a life to come. Images of play, and especially the play of children, are central to God’s shalom, that time where love, faithfulness, justice, and peace indicate God’s reign (Psalm 85:10, Isaiah 11:8 and Zechariah 8:5).
In addition, God’s reign is seen in the incarnation (the incarnation refers to the Son of God “taking on flesh” in Jesus Christ). It is no surprise that Jesus promises life to the full, a life that invites a new relationship with God (John 10:10b). This life is impossible to imagine without being playful...
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by Lois Huey-Heck
How would you describe embodiment with respect to spiritual practice?
Here we are in the territory of presence. This is the matter (pun intended) of our own presence – that is, our own capacity to “be here, now.” Our bodies, as we learn to listen to them and inhabit them consciously and with respect, have a lot to teach us about living in the reality of this present moment (and not in the fears and fantasies of past or future). And each present moment in turn is the only place where we can meet and be met by the Holy...
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by Michael Schwartzentruber
Let’s be honest. The church to which I and many of you belong is completely obsessed with sex. It pretends not to be, of course, and constantly laments our culture’s fascination with sex. But this institutional projection and redirection can’t hide the facts.
Personally, I wouldn’t mind this obsession if I could honestly say the church was all about promoting healthy sexuality. Unfortunately, our obsession runs to the dark side...
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by Tim Scorer
If you have just opened all ten of these “windows” of body insight, then you have just experienced the leadership of at least six people who welcome the wisdom of their bodies in the pursuit of leadership. I think that the term “self as instrument” expresses that well. What does that look like in leadership? Here are four simple responses:
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