A Devotion for Something Completely Different
The name of my devotion this week might suggest that I’m going to somehow link our work to British sketch comedy, but I promise, I won’t torture you like that š
Instead of my typical written devotion this week, I want to offer you a practice that I encourage you to engage in sometime this week.
Too often, I find myself relegating my spiritual/devotional time to reading or sitting in stillness. While this can be incredibly life-giving and fulfilling, it only scratches the surface of spiritual disciplines we can engage in.
This week, I want to introduce (or reintroduce) you to a practice called Body Prayer and detail a prayer to practice yourself.
A body prayer can be any sort of prayer that incorporates movement. It is a helpful way to pray if you are a particularly kinesthetic person who feels most connected to God when you’re on the move. Some people pray when they run, or when they practice yoga; others when they walk the labyrinth or the Stations of the Cross.
My husband shared the following body prayer with me and our church congregation last week. He has also used this with the hospice patients he works with as a way of helping them feel grounded and fully present in their bodies. As we participated in this practice during Sunday’s service, I could easily imagine how this might be a helpful practice in our recovery work.
In a Body Prayer that comes from the motto of the Order of Julian of Norwich, you take a few minutes to let your heart and mind’s attention sink deeper into your body, to remember your inherent oneness, through these simple words, postures, and intentions.
Julian wrote, “The fruit and the purpose of prayer is to be oned with and like God in all things.”
AWAIT (hands at waist, cupped up to receive): Await God’s presence, not as you expect, hope, or imagine, but just as it is in this moment.
ALLOW (reach up, hands open): Allow a sense of God’s presence (or not) to come and be what it is, without meeting your expectations.
ACCEPT (hands at heart, cupped towards body): Accept as a gift whatever comes or does not come. Accept that you are not in charge. Accept the infinity of God’s presence, whether or not you are aware.
ATTEND (hands outstretched, ready to be responsive): In this stance of openness, attend to the action(s) that God invites you to take.
It is my hope that you will find a time this week to practice this Body Prayer and reflect on the practice. I’d love to hear what it meant for you!
Blessings,
Chaplain Amy
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