As Anglicans, we have a long standing tradition of standing, sitting and kneeling during prayer.  Some of us while saying the creeds will bow forward at the name of Jesus.  Others will cross themselves at various points throughout the liturgy and still others will make a miniature sign of the cross on their forehead, mouth and over their heart before speaking.  You see me do that sometimes.   

All of these actions have come down to us in one way or another from rather pious traditions in the church, that demanded uniformity in worship and some kind of evidence of supplication before God.  From time to time in our history we have became so mired in ritual that we forgot the meaning of why we do things, or have misconstrued them for instance as a necessary supplication before the priest.  

One thing is certain however, Anglicans enjoy a long tradition of praying with the whole body.  But we need always to be aware of why we do what we do in church.  And it needs to be authentic – by which I mean, personally meaningful and not contrived or simply automatic because it’s what everyone else is doing.

 So I put to you, that rather than thinking of these movements as something you have been taught to do because you are supposed to do it, or as actions that God expects of you, I suggest that you think of body prayer as a kind of  - perhaps -  modified liturgical dance before God. 

Body prayer and liturgical dance, are meant at their core to help you to both contemplate God, and to help you express something in or of yourself to God and that’s the only reason one should make such movements in worship.

King David, for all the scandal of being scantily clad and uninhibited, serves as a wonderful example to us a man who passionately caught up in the joy of the presence of the holy God among his people.  He is literally dancing for joy, and we need to remember that God’s blessing to us does not simply come through our minds and our hearts, but also through our bodies.  The church has neglected this piece of theology.  I uphold it. 

The idea that the human body is somehow less than the spirit, or inferior, or worse a vessel of sin, is inconsistent with God’s original declaration of blessing upon the earth.

If you hold to the doctrine of original sin, you should know that this came from the great theologian St. Augustine who was a brilliant thinker.  Of the massive tomes he wrote, this was perhaps one of the most obscure doctrines, and yet the one the church paid the most attention to.  Not unlike the youth of today, he was wild when he was young.  He drank.  He partied.  And he slept around with a lot of women.

One of them he ended up living with outside of holy matrimony – what we would call today, common law – or with some jest might refer to as “shacked up.”   Not only that, but he had a child by her and later abandoned the both of them to the church.
Augustine speaks at some length openly and honestly about this in his writings, and lived with overwhelming guilt for having left the love of his life, and his child and this found its way into his theology in the fourth century. 

Paul is another one who is credited with doing some very serious damage in terms of Christian attitudes towards the human body.  In fact it is not so much what Paul said, but how he was read and interpreted – or more properly misread and misinterpreted.  For instance, our epistle today is ascribed to Paul but it is highly unlikely he actually wrote this letter.  Not only did he not write it, it is most likely copied from Colossians. 

Why is this important?  Well it helps us to make sense of what we believe and why we believe it, and what we do and why we do it insofar as prayer and worship are concerned.  But more importantly, it helps us to engage our Christian tradition, to look deeply into the richness it has to offer.  Ours is a living faith and as we seek to dialogue with our ancient ancestors, it helps us to a spirit of truth and renewal.  This is one of the ways, Christ comes again.  Real and present in our lives.

I have two stories about how our bodies can help us to connect with God and two outcomes based on how we respond to that.

The first is that I was at a service many years ago, and there were two young servers – boys – probably ten or twelve years old.  And as we began to sing at the end of the service, to a rather upbeat version of “Glory to God whose power working in us” as played on the piano, the boys started to dance. 

And they were at an age when young people are incredibly spiritual and idealistic – a time in the lives of young people when they quite literally, the “Gospel Truth” as it’s presented to them without the nuances and difficulties of mature faith which help to make us resilient. 

So it was reasonable for them to think that God would not have a problem with their expression of joy during the end of the service.  I really enjoyed watching their joy and knew they weren’t goofing off or being disrespectful. 

And it seems that one of the parishioners felt that this was inappropriate behavior and complained to the rector, who was new and I suppose, not prepared to oppose the person making the complaint.  So the rector told them not to dance again. 

I recall after the service, the looks on their faces.  They were hurt.  They were embarrassed.  They were chastised.  I remember trying to make it better and saying how had enjoyed seeing them dance, and that had I been in charge, I would have chastised the parishioner! 

Frankly, I don’t think it is ever God’s will to wipe the smile of the faces of children.  However, they must have believed otherwise, because I never saw them again.  They never came back.  Why would they?  Like the stories of Michal and Herodias, it seems that if we allow it, there will always be someone in the crowd who disapproves a passionate expression of one’s encounter with God.  In the case of David, with his dancing and in the case of John with his prophetic voice.

The other story I want to tell you relating to the body and movement will probably reverberate with some of you.  I received my call at a very young age and it stayed with me throughout my life.  And for many various reasons, I couldn’t quite grasp it or respond.  The details of that will have to wait for another time.

 But the big push – the big “you are going to pay attention to NOW!” came one day while I was washing dishes.  I recall the rhythmic action of the task and falling into a kind of meditative state with nothing at all on my mind.  And about part way through the chore, I had a compulsion that I could not resist -  to stop what I was doing, to leave it and to go and get on the computer.  There in the middle of this simple physical task, this rhythmic movement, I dropped what I was doing.  Half of the dishes were clean, half of them sitting on the counter. 

And without any for-thought that I can recall – without any pre-conceived ideas of what I was doing or why, I found myself on a United Church website.  And the page I was on was talking about “call” – specifically, call to ordained ministry.  And it had a list of about 16 items and instructions that if three or four items on the list applied to you, you may have a call and should seek discernment.  I checked off all 16.  The best I can say is in that moment of truth – and believe me, it was a moment of truth -  I encountered an old and familiar friend in that one moment and had a sense of coming home.  It wasn’t the checkmarks.  It was the familiarity. 

Now the funny part of that story, was that when I got to Trinity College, I found myself  sitting in a class with about 25 people  and someone piped up with the question “does anyone else besides me ever have spiritual experiences when they wash dishes?”  Probably ¾ of the class raised their hands. 

The lesson today is not that you should all go home and wash dishes in the interest of seeking God - but that – our bodies, connected as they are to the rhythm and heartbeat of the universe – the life pulse that goes on around us – seen and unseen – God – our bodies and our movements has a spiritual character.   And we need to honor that and pay attention to it.

Whether you are young or old, in good physical shape or combating illness – in movement or in stillness, standing, sitting, kneeling, holding your hands up, closing them together, or moving them over prayer beads, bowing your head, raising it up, playing an instrument, dancing, in public or in private  ... whatever ….

Your body – gift that it is from God, is not simply that through which you can express yourself to God, but also that through which God will speak to you.  You need only to pay attention.