"Not What Seminarians Should Say," Part II
I wrote recently about my inkling that running could be prayer. Like anything that unites body, mind, and spirit under one intention, it brings a meditativeness that goes straight to the core of us.
I know running is prayer because I am my most generous self out there. By generous I mean my heart is open to people; I mean my heart chooses to think the best of people. You know that feeling when you drive down I-285 in the traffic and suddenly you realize these people probably all had long days too? Or when someone flips out on you at work and you notice it's just been too way long since they took a yoga class? That feeling is generosity. Your soul is making enough space for theirs.
And when I run, about four miles in, I feel this generosity and thankfulness and love toward the people in my life and I think up extravagant ways to thank them. I wish I followed through more, really. I always think I solve the world's problems on runs and then promptly forget.
Anyway, I know running is a form of prayer because it changes me.
It's an intentional, meditative, dedicative practice that is really difficult and changes me.
I know because I'm made better, more generous, more like what I think Jesus was.
Can I ask a question? Why are people, myself included, mostly unchanged by church? How are there such mean, apathetic, materialistic, or self-absorbed people unchanged by weekly church services? Not everyone of course, but some?
I'm inclined to think we are only changed (for the better) when our souls meet God. Meditation in the form of connecting body, mind, and spirit is an avenue of that meeting, and so are the other spiritual disciplines like simplicity and reading Scripture. But I'm suggesting that our tendency in churches to cut off our senses and sit still in our seats turns it into a bit of an academic exercise. I can encounter God in academics, but it's more indirect, and I don't think everyone's mind works in a way that allows it.
I'm suggesting that sometimes the way we do church doesn't change people because they aren't encountering Christ. They aren't "praying" if we continue with the body/mind/spirit definition I've been using. They're being taught. They're listening and talking. They're using their minds and sometimes their vocal chords. It's great stuff, but let's not confuse it with a direct encounter with Christ. There's a whole deeper level of connection available to us, and I wish everyone who walks into our churches could feel that. Really good worship leaders are aware of it. The worship movement of my generation is aware of it. There are more forms of prayer than we heard growing up, and there are more ways to connect with God while in our bodies, and we will know it when it changes us.
I know running is prayer because I am my most generous self out there. By generous I mean my heart is open to people; I mean my heart chooses to think the best of people. You know that feeling when you drive down I-285 in the traffic and suddenly you realize these people probably all had long days too? Or when someone flips out on you at work and you notice it's just been too way long since they took a yoga class? That feeling is generosity. Your soul is making enough space for theirs.
And when I run, about four miles in, I feel this generosity and thankfulness and love toward the people in my life and I think up extravagant ways to thank them. I wish I followed through more, really. I always think I solve the world's problems on runs and then promptly forget.
Anyway, I know running is a form of prayer because it changes me.
It's an intentional, meditative, dedicative practice that is really difficult and changes me.
I know because I'm made better, more generous, more like what I think Jesus was.
Can I ask a question? Why are people, myself included, mostly unchanged by church? How are there such mean, apathetic, materialistic, or self-absorbed people unchanged by weekly church services? Not everyone of course, but some?
I'm inclined to think we are only changed (for the better) when our souls meet God. Meditation in the form of connecting body, mind, and spirit is an avenue of that meeting, and so are the other spiritual disciplines like simplicity and reading Scripture. But I'm suggesting that our tendency in churches to cut off our senses and sit still in our seats turns it into a bit of an academic exercise. I can encounter God in academics, but it's more indirect, and I don't think everyone's mind works in a way that allows it.
I'm suggesting that sometimes the way we do church doesn't change people because they aren't encountering Christ. They aren't "praying" if we continue with the body/mind/spirit definition I've been using. They're being taught. They're listening and talking. They're using their minds and sometimes their vocal chords. It's great stuff, but let's not confuse it with a direct encounter with Christ. There's a whole deeper level of connection available to us, and I wish everyone who walks into our churches could feel that. Really good worship leaders are aware of it. The worship movement of my generation is aware of it. There are more forms of prayer than we heard growing up, and there are more ways to connect with God while in our bodies, and we will know it when it changes us.
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