I admit that when I started this sermon series, the only thing I knew for certain was what the themes would be for each week based on the book that inspired the series. From the start, it felt like this series was a risk. After all, I was preaching about a physically expressed prayer and I am not a dancer! My attempts to embody this prayer are, at best awkward.
Still, here we are. We have walked through 5 of the 6 postures of prayer connecting each posture to the weekly readings, hopefully in ways that are meaningful. Of course, it is one thing to talk about these postures. It is quite another thing to do them. This is the challenge of the sixth posture – go with the flow. This isn’t a pose, rather it is an invitation to movement. When we think of going with the flow, we might choose to allow our body to move like waves in a river gently engaging with all around.
This last posture is particularly challenging for those of us who aren’t graceful dancers. We may feel self-conscious and wonder – how do we look? Are we doing it right? Is someone going to laugh? Thus, part of the point of this posture, is to challenge ourselves to let go of self-judgement and just be. We are supposed to allow the movement to happen without fear, without feeling self-conscious. As the one standing in front, I can say easier said than done.
And yet, this entire prayer is meant to be a conversation that doesn’t need to be perfect to be meaningful. It is the effort, the willingness to open ourselves to encountering God through our gracefulness and/or our awkwardness that transforms each moment into a conversation between our bodies and the One who has Created us and longs for a relationship with us. It is our intent that transforms our actions into prayer whether we do this prayer in private or take risks and engage publicly.
Jesus, on the night of the last supper, prays in front of his disciples: Now they know that everything you have given me is from you…and they have believed that you sent me…And now I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world…protect them…that they may be one, as we are one.
Jesus was not afraid to pray publicly to engage both his relationship with God and with those who may be listening. By example, he showed that prayer is about relationships asking: ‘that they may be one, as we are one.’ Those relationships don’t have to be perfect – this particular prayer was being offered on the night of the last supper, when Jesus was praying for and with those who would soon abandon, deny, and betray him! Nor do the prayers have to be perfect. Jesus’ actions reveal that intent matters. Openness matters. A willingness to take risks matters and can all contribute to closeness and meaning. Through the examples of the relationships Jesus has we learn that to be in relationship with God and the world, to be one with God and the world, is to trust that living fully who we are, who we have been created to be, is enough.
To be in relationship is to trust that living fully who we are, who we have been created to be, is enough. This prayer of Jesus, indeed his entire life, death, and resurrection, encourages his disciples and us to go with the flow and continue to seek to be in relationship, with God and with each other – that we may be one. In Jesus we are encouraged to continue to pray with all our awkwardness and beauty.
So, let’s pray. Let’s put this physical prayer together trusting that it is our intent that transforms our actions, however we may embody these, into prayer. Who is willing to suspend our fear and self-consciousness and give it a try? I invite you to stand as you are willing and able…
Expand – stretch out, as a reminder to open our minds and hearts to whatever new things God might be doing in the world, in our congregation, and in our lives.
Contract – turn inward, reminding ourselves that there is need to pause, to reflect, to be mindful of our own minds, bodies, and souls.
Reach – turn upward offering our longing and hopes.
Receive – that reminder that God lovingly answers our prayers.
Stand firm – use our power, confidence, and strength to love as Jesus loved.
Go with the flow – trusting that God welcomes our intentions and loves all the ways we open ourselves to encounter God the Creator, Redeemer, and Life-Giving Spirit. Amen.
