Do you have a “Body Theology?” | The Contemplative Activist

In case you are waiting with bated breath to know if I was surprised or not on my retreat this past weekend on Honoring the Body as a Spiritual Discipline, I’ll spare you the suspense. Yes. Yes, I was surprised. Not so much surprised about the fact that it was not 3 days of talking about weight loss, exercise and getting more sleep (though all that was mentioned subtlely). But I was taken aback at how deeply profound the retreat was. There are 80-ish people in my cohort – about half men and women, and all in some sort of significant leadership role in their church, ministry or vocation. There is a medical doctor, a Christian college president, a plethora of pastors and worship leaders, some non-profit CEOs, and a denominational Bishop, just to name a few. And I think I can safely say that no one got away from this retreat without shedding some tears. It was truly a profound experience. The first bit was on a theology of the body – our bodies, the flesh-and-blood vessels that we were given to live out this life – but that we don’t shed when we’re done and live as spirits forever floating around heaven. We talked a lot about how much value God places on our bodies – that he created us with them in the first place, that he took one on Himself when He wanted to show us who He really was, that He decided to live in them as opposed to a temple or tabernacle, that he plans to resurrect them after they’ve rotted and disintegrated and have us live in them again (only better!), that He uses them as His analogy for His presence here on the earth in His people, etc. They are a pretty big deal. And so, what are the implications of that to us as we steward them? (That is where the mentions of sleep, etc. came into play.)

But then we steered away from the safe shore of what we know and can touch and feel to the deeper waters of things like gender, sexuality, and race – and what the Bible has to say to inform us about these things. But we didn’t talk about these things in the standard way we generally talk about these things, particularly in this day and age, when these topics are pretty hot. But looking at the much deeper issues – the sexual nature of God, the idea of gender – God’s and ours, the interactions of men and women in the Body of Christ in the age of #MeToo and #ChurchToo and in the age of “there is neither male nor female, Jew or Greek, slave or free…”, the history of racism in the church (and how it was really propagated BY the church) and the Biblical view of race. It was heavy stuff.

The guest speaker who led the interactions about race was really incredible, and the leaving service on Tuesday afternoon, which is always profound, was even more so, as he led us in a service of lament, and then preached on “where do we go from here.” Really moving, and not just in a “feel good” kind of way.

So, there’s way more that went into that weekend than I can possibly share here – though I may pick up some pieces over the next few months as I process it – but feel free to contact me if you want to hear more or talk about any of it. I can at least point you to some books to read – as we were given a 3-page list!

But, one takeaway from the weekend, was the concept of “praying in your body.” There are a lot of ways to do this, but the idea is that we are to present our bodies to the Lord as living sacrifices, and that our body IS the temple of the Holy Spirit, and we are supposed to glorify God IN OUR BODIES (I Cor. 6:20). Praying in our bodies allows us to utilize movement and kinesthetic activity to enhance our engagement in prayer. Rather than just praying in our minds, or with our mouths, we can engage all of who we are wholistically in our prayer. This can be done through incorporating movements that represent what your heart is feeling in your prayer, such as cupping your hands to symbolically hold up something you are offering to the Lord and opening your hands to release it. It could even be going on a prayer walk and praying through your neighborhood, or appreciating creation on a prayer walk through the woods, or walking a prayer labyrinth. Another practice I’ve used with my staff both in the US and Sierra Leone is “praying in color,” or coloring shapes while you fill them in with someone’s name or an issue you are praying through. Or, you can use prayer beads to help keep your mind focused while you are praying. If you are like me, this might strike you are distinctly Catholic, or even Muslim (depending on your background), but if you want to hear about this from a Protestant perspective, talk with your favorite Anglican friend. (If you don’t have an Anglican friend, write me and I’ll hook you up!) 🙂 Prayer beads are not religious in and of themselves, they are just a tool to help you focus and utilize more senses in your prayer. I found the practice of praying with prayer beads to be really unique and helpful in staying engaged with praying Scripture. I’m going to put a couple of links below, in case you want to learn a little more about ways to pray in your body.

I’m going to be in a silent women’s retreat for half of today (if you read this on Friday). I’ve been wanting to participate in one of these for a while. A retreat center outside of Memphis offers these half-day retreats for women on the first Friday of every month. (If you’re nearby, check them out!) I am working to incorporate regular retreat time into my quarterly rhythms, and maybe this will be one option for the future. It takes a good bit of intentionality to make the time for retreat, but so far, I have found it to be completely worth the effort!

These are just a few resources, in case you want to learn more, but you can do a search and find many more resources out there. I don’t think ALL of them are worthy of endorsement, however!

Praying in the Body:

Praying with Color:

Praying with Prayer Beads:

Prayer Walking:

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