"Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.”
James 4:6-8, 10

Embodied Worship

Among the unknown losses I experienced as a young Protestant was embodied worship. While we would certainly deny that our theology was gnostic, in many ways our disembodied worship betrayed us. With the exception of camp “action choruses,” we worried that any bodily movement might become either too worldly (if it strayed too close to dance) or too religious (if it reminded us of the Catholics). Even the "stand-up/sit-down" choruses were eventually banned at the Bible camp I attended because the provincial director noticed too many bouncing breasts. I'm serious.

The churches I first attended were often an exercise in sensory deprivation: nothing to look at, nothing to smell, nothing to touch, nothing to taste … and squirming of any kind was particularly forbidden. "Sit still" was our highest moral value. The music could be very beautiful but the impulse to sway to Gaither music was always held suspect or at best, felt like a guilty pleasure.

The charismatics, on the other hand, would break those taboos, first with hand-raising, then dance, then a range of manifestations and later, what we called "prophetic acts," where we emulated Old Testament prophets like Ezekiel by bodily miming the Lord's message. All of these physical acts were now regarded as spiritual, though when unbridled, became excessive. At least by the time we began worship moshing, the Lord had mercifully created sports bras.

When I moved East in my Christian theology and practice, what struck me most was the sensuality of worship. Worshipers liberally kissed a heavenly host of brightly coloured icons, sneezed at the wafting incense, fondled their beeswax candles and drank actual wine infused with bread floaties. The sacramental worship was entirely embodied as the Spirit infused the elements with meaning and spiritual reality … including our own bodies, living icons of the image of God. All our actions become spiritually significant, whether standing, sitting, kneeling or moving. Most foreign to me were the prostrations, especially since they were very similar to Muslim prayer … so I'd like to interpret them for my Western readers.