Not What Seminarians Should Say

Running down Henderson Mill yesterday I started thinking about how running is prayer.

Prayer has been defined (by Richard Rohr maybe? Robert Benson?) as what happens in the moment when your body, mind, and spirit are all in accord and working toward a singular purpose.

When I run and running is good, or even when it's really super hard, there are split seconds when I feel what I feel in prayer. Body, mind, spirit dwelling intently on one reality.

I think running, done well, can be prayer.

And while I was thinking this, a parallel conversation was happening in another part of my brain. It was debating how heretical it is to call running prayer. I have this parallel conversation at least once a day as a seminary student.

At least 38% of the time I conclude what I'm hearing, saying, or thinking in class is heretical.

But I've decided that most of us are silently heretical, and if I'm going to be a heretic, I want to at least know why. Like Martin Luther, I want to at least be educated about it.

If I'm going to be a heretic, I want to at least be a good one.

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