Doing Spirituality

In light of my previous post about the joy of moving, I am going to talk about the physicality of spiritual practices.

In other eras, some writers and teachers had a lot to say about what we ought do with our body in prayer, singing, reading, preaching, listening to sermons. In recent years, many preachers have spent a fair amount of energy insisting that posture does not matter. God will hear our prayers whether our eyes are open or shut, whether we're kneeling or standing or sitting, whether we are lying on our backs or lying on our stomachs or standing on our heads.
All this verbiage about God being able to hear our prayers no matter what our posture misses the point. The question is not can God hear us? That's hardly a useful question. Of course, God can hear us. A relevant question would be are there postures that will enhance our prayer experience. Are some bodily positions and actions especially conducive to a rich prayer experience?

There is a profound connection between bodily action and posture and what goes on in our minds. In light of this, we would do well to give greater credence to the various spiritual practices that are said to enhance our experience of God.

Given the power of the body it would make sense that prayer performed in a kneeling position will be a very different experience from prayer performed standing with our face lifted toward heaven and our arms spread wide. The physical difference between Pentecostal worship with its exuberance and noise and activity and a liturgical service with its order, rationality and stillness necessarily means there is a spiritual difference.
I do not believe that one form is superior to the other. Neither embraces the full range of human encounters with God. Both can be idolized. Each offers a way for worshipers to be bodily present with their God.

It's possible to “participate” in mountain climbing by watching it on television. You can “participate” in surfing by watching YouTube videos of super surfers on giant waves. You can “play” football by sitting on the couch and watching. But few people who have climbed a mountain or caught a wave or intercepted a pass would be satisfied to settle for watching.

In spiritual life, it's possible to participate by watching. We can listen to sermons about praying, we can watch musicians perform during church, we can read books about fasting and feasting, about meditating and studying. But the people who find the deepest satisfaction in spiritual life are those who do, who engage in spiritual activities. They kneel for prayer or they stand and face the morning sun with their face lifted and their arms spread wide. They purposefully make one meal a day or one meal a week a tactile spiritual activity. Spirituality, among people who get the most out of, is something they do with their bodies. It takes deliberate activity. It's not an idea, it's not only a feeling, it's not even theology, as important as theology is. Spirituality is something we do with our bodies.

We do not imagine that God needs us to get in some kind of posture before he can hear us or before he can see us or respond to us. We do imagine that engaging our bodies in spiritual practices will be a far richer experience than playing with ideas in our heads or sitting still while others sing or talk about praying.