SPEAKER_00: Good morning, everybody.
SPEAKER_00: Nice to see you.
SPEAKER_00: Welcome.
SPEAKER_00: If we haven't had the pleasure of meeting yet, my name is John Benda.
SPEAKER_00: I'm one of the pastors here at Connect Church.
SPEAKER_00: Let's do what Erica just did.
SPEAKER_00: Let's go straight to the Bible together this morning, okay?
SPEAKER_00: Right away.
SPEAKER_00: I would like for us to read the first two verses together of Romans chapter 12.
SPEAKER_00: We're going to be revisiting this passage all throughout the sermon series that we started last week.
SPEAKER_00: We're going to look at it in a variety of English translations.
SPEAKER_00: It's a wonderful passage.
SPEAKER_00: Here it is, Romans 12, 1 through 2.
SPEAKER_00: Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God.
SPEAKER_00: This is your true and proper worship.
SPEAKER_00: Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
SPEAKER_00: Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is his good, pleasing, and perfect will.
SPEAKER_00: That's in the New International Version.
SPEAKER_00: Here it is again, same verses, different translation.
SPEAKER_00: I appeal to you, therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.
SPEAKER_00: Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Both those translations say, be transformed by the renewing or by the renewal of your mind.
SPEAKER_00: Transformed is Greek time.
unknown: Okay?
SPEAKER_00: Ready for Greek time?
SPEAKER_00: I got a copy of Strong's Greek dictionary, and by golly, I'm not afraid to use it.
SPEAKER_00: The Greek word that gets transf gets translated to transform is metamorpho-o.
SPEAKER_00: Can you say metamorpho-o?
SPEAKER_00: No.
SPEAKER_00: Who said no?
SPEAKER_00: That's good.
SPEAKER_00: No, I can't.
SPEAKER_00: It was worth a shot.
SPEAKER_00: Metamorpho-O.
SPEAKER_00: Uh it's a verb.
SPEAKER_00: It's where we get our English word metamorphosis, right?
SPEAKER_00: Like what a butterfly does?
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
SPEAKER_00: It's a combination of two Greek words, meta, which literally means to change after being with.
SPEAKER_00: And morpho-o, which literally means changing the outer form to keep with an inner reality.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you, Strong's Greek dictionary.
SPEAKER_00: You may take the rest of the day off.
SPEAKER_00: Metamorpho-O.
SPEAKER_00: It's there in Romans 12, 2.
SPEAKER_00: We just read it.
SPEAKER_00: It shows up in Mark 9.
SPEAKER_00: I'd like to read that.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus took Peter, James, and John.
SPEAKER_00: He led them up a high mountain to be alone.
SPEAKER_00: As the men watched, Jesus' appearance was transformed.
SPEAKER_00: Metamorpho-O.
SPEAKER_00: And his clothes became dazzling white, far whiter than any earthly bleach could ever make them.
SPEAKER_00: I talked about that story just a few weeks ago.
SPEAKER_00: That's a good one.
SPEAKER_00: The same word also shows up in 2 Corinthians chapter 3.
SPEAKER_00: The Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.
SPEAKER_00: And we all who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord's glory are being transformed.
SPEAKER_00: There it is again, metamorpho-o, into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, so transformed, little by little, into God's image by God.
SPEAKER_00: A metamorphosis so that our outer form matches the inner reality of what God has already done in us.
SPEAKER_00: I could take a long time trying to wrap my head around that.
SPEAKER_00: Couldn't you?
SPEAKER_00: It's wonderful.
SPEAKER_00: Makes me think of uh the C.S.
SPEAKER_00: Lewis story, right?
SPEAKER_00: One of his Narnia stories, the one where the annoying little kid turns into a dragon.
SPEAKER_00: Remember this story?
SPEAKER_00: The kid, he's annoying and self-centered, selfish, uh, so much so that he literally turns into a dragon, but he doesn't like being a dragon.
SPEAKER_00: He wants to turn back into a boy, so he asks God's forgiveness, right?
SPEAKER_00: In this in the stories, God is represented by the lion.
SPEAKER_00: He asks God's forgiveness, and the lion forgives him immediately.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, that happens inside, but to transform the dragon back into the boy, the lion uses his claws and his teeth to literally tear the flesh of the dragon away and expose the boy underneath.
SPEAKER_00: It's a very rich metaphor.
SPEAKER_00: This idea of transformation, metamorphosis, it is a central theme in Lewis's work.
SPEAKER_00: Here's something that C.S.
SPEAKER_00: Lewis said in one of his Dragon Free books, Mere Christianity.
SPEAKER_00: Lewis said, he, he's talking about God.
SPEAKER_00: God will make the feeblest and filthiest of us into a god or goddess, a dazzling, radiant, immortal creature, pulsating all through with such energy and joy and wisdom and love as we cannot now imagine.
SPEAKER_00: A bright, stainless mirror which reflects back to God perfectly, though of course on a smaller scale, his own boundless power and delight and goodness.
SPEAKER_00: Listen to this.
SPEAKER_00: The process will be long and in parts very painful, maybe like having your flesh torn off by a lion.
SPEAKER_00: But that is what we are in for.
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
SPEAKER_00: That's transformation in the biblical sense.
SPEAKER_00: You and I changing little by little into creatures that increasingly reflect God's image that's inside of us.
SPEAKER_00: And how does this happen?
SPEAKER_00: Well, Paul said in the first two verses we read that it begins in our minds.
SPEAKER_00: As our dear friend Laura so brilliantly pointed out last week, the mind is more than just my rational thoughts, right?
SPEAKER_00: Cold Vulcan logic or something.
SPEAKER_00: It's more than the physiological workings of the organ that sits inside my skull.
SPEAKER_00: The mind includes many aspects of who we are as human beings.
SPEAKER_00: And the goal of this sermon series we began last week, which we have so cleverly titled Transformed, is to look at how a better understanding of different aspects of the mind could lead to spiritual transformation.
SPEAKER_00: Now, this is not a work we can do by ourselves.
SPEAKER_00: It's not a work we do on our own behalf.
SPEAKER_00: We are transformed by God's love for the expressed purpose of loving him and loving others.
SPEAKER_00: Laura likened it to getting on a ski lift.
SPEAKER_00: Did you catch that last week?
SPEAKER_00: We can't make ourselves float up the mountain, right?
SPEAKER_00: But we can do some things so that we're ready to get on the ski lift when it comes by.
SPEAKER_00: It's the Holy Spirit who does the work of transformation, but we can develop some aspects of our minds so that we will be ready to recognize and embrace that transformative work when the Holy Spirit is doing it.
SPEAKER_00: Make sense?
SPEAKER_00: So beginning today, we're going to be exploring the following facets of the mind.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, this is sort of a preview of coming attractions.
SPEAKER_00: This week we're going to be talking about embodiment.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, this is very cool.
SPEAKER_00: Next week, Pastor Nate will talk about attention and mindfulness.
SPEAKER_00: The following week, we get to hear from Kevin Lee about interpersonal neurology, and lastly, narrative making.
SPEAKER_00: And if all this sounds a little bit not so churchy, some of you might be saying, like, oh, cool, we're gonna talk about some really practical things, some less religious things in church.
SPEAKER_00: I can get on board with that.
SPEAKER_00: That's nice.
SPEAKER_00: Some of you might be saying, What in the Sam Hill are you guys thinking?
SPEAKER_00: Have you lost your minds?
SPEAKER_00: Please stick with us, okay?
SPEAKER_00: I think there's gonna be something here for you.
SPEAKER_00: Today we're gonna talk about embodiment, the embodied mind, an aspect of your mind and mine that I think is very important to spiritual transformation.
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna talk about what it means.
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna identify some possible barriers to growth in this area.
SPEAKER_00: We're also going to introduce a couple of spiritual disciplines that might help get us over those barriers.
SPEAKER_00: And we're even going to try the spiritual disciplines together right here.
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
SPEAKER_00: Oh boy.
SPEAKER_00: Before we go on, we better pray.
SPEAKER_00: What do you say?
SPEAKER_00: Gracious Heavenly Father, we thank you for the gift of salvation, of transformation, metamorphosis that is available to us because of the work of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: We thank you for your Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: We invite you here this morning, Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: Give us ears to hear, help us to understand what we can learn from your word about who you are and about who we are because of the transformative work you are doing in our lives.
SPEAKER_00: Give us grace and peace this morning, we pray, Lord.
SPEAKER_00: In Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
SPEAKER_00: So I recently rediscovered something about myself.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, I rediscovered that I really like basketball.
SPEAKER_00: I'd kind of forgotten that I like basketball, but I've been watching a lot of basketball lately.
SPEAKER_00: I've been playing basketball with my two boys.
SPEAKER_00: Uh I coached one of them in like nine-year-old Parks and Rec basketball.
SPEAKER_00: It's fun.
SPEAKER_00: I'd forgotten.
SPEAKER_00: I really like basketball.
SPEAKER_00: And as none of you need me to tell you, Lawrence, Kansas is a right decent place to live if you're someone who really likes basketball.
SPEAKER_00: We've got this place.
SPEAKER_00: You can go.
SPEAKER_00: It's called Allen Fieldhouse.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: Alan Fieldhouse.
SPEAKER_00: The commentators on ESPN, they like to call it something different.
SPEAKER_00: They get a little bit hyperbolic sometimes.
SPEAKER_00: They like to call it the what of college basketball.
SPEAKER_00: The St.
SPEAKER_00: Andrews.
SPEAKER_00: The Cathedral of College Basketball, right?
SPEAKER_00: They call it the Cathedral of College Basketball.
SPEAKER_00: Now, attending a game at Allen Field House, if you're a KU basketball fan, is a full-body, multi-sensory experience.
SPEAKER_00: There's the noise, the heat, the smells.
SPEAKER_00: Cathedral is actually a pretty good word for what this place is because when we're there, we sing the songs and we chant the chants and we read the liturgies.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, we stand and shout and clap and raise our hands and wave our wheat.
SPEAKER_00: And if you're especially devout, you can go down the hall and read Naismith's Holy Scripture.
SPEAKER_00: To call it watching a basketball game is a little bit of an understatement.
SPEAKER_00: Spending an evening at Allen Fieldhouse is an experience of embodiment.
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
SPEAKER_00: When you're there and you're all in full body, you end up leaving, this sounds ridiculous, you end up leaving feeling more connected to KU basketball.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: Like more of a jayhawk.
SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
SPEAKER_00: But imagine for a minute if you didn't.
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
SPEAKER_00: What if you just sat there and watched quietly?
SPEAKER_00: What if people were there but didn't engage with their bodies at all?
SPEAKER_00: Well, then they wouldn't be having an embodied experience.
SPEAKER_00: And I think that would actually be a little bit weirder, right?
SPEAKER_00: My wife calls this being too much in your head to be in your body.
SPEAKER_00: Can you relate to that?
SPEAKER_00: Okay, maybe you don't like basketball.
SPEAKER_00: Here's another example.
SPEAKER_00: A few years ago, I took my oldest son on a pilgrimage of sorts to see in person the man I unironically call my favorite American, the incomparable Mr.
SPEAKER_00: Bruce Springsteen.
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
SPEAKER_00: There he is.
SPEAKER_00: Bruce came to Kansas City, brought the whole E Street band.
SPEAKER_00: It was my third time seeing him in concert.
SPEAKER_00: It was my son's first.
SPEAKER_00: He was six years old at the time.
SPEAKER_00: Actually, it was his first concert ever, which was super cool, except that his second concert ever was my band, and he was comparatively unimpressed.
SPEAKER_00: Side note, I love this picture of Bruce because at 76 years old, the man can still keep the attention of tens of thousands of people for over three and a half hours at a time.
SPEAKER_00: Still, the thing is these days he has to do it in orthopedic shoes.
SPEAKER_00: Can you see?
SPEAKER_00: Can you see him?
SPEAKER_00: He's wearing those no-tie slip-ons that Howie Longs I was trying to sell you.
SPEAKER_00: Sorry, Bruce.
SPEAKER_00: Anyway, regardless of what shoes he was wearing, seeing Bruce was another embodied experience.
SPEAKER_00: And I got to share it with my son.
SPEAKER_00: We sang and we danced and we cheered and we cried.
SPEAKER_00: Well, I cried, he just patted me on the back.
SPEAKER_00: It was an experience of embodiment, being very aware of being in my body and using my body to participate in what was happening.
SPEAKER_00: But can you imagine if I didn't do that?
SPEAKER_00: What if I was too much in my head to be in my body?
SPEAKER_00: If I just sat there, like, well, if he plays hungry hard, I'll sing the first verse.
SPEAKER_00: But other than that, I'm just gonna sit here, okay?
SPEAKER_00: That would be my loss.
SPEAKER_00: And actually, that would be weirder.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, maybe you don't like basketball or Bruce Springsteen.
SPEAKER_00: A shocking and inexplicable possibility.
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
SPEAKER_00: But there are so many activities.
SPEAKER_00: There are many activities you can participate in that are embodied, that make you aware of being in your body.
SPEAKER_00: Preparing your favorite meal, doing a difficult workout, walking on the beach, making love, riding a bike, building something with your own hands, getting a massage.
SPEAKER_00: Man, I love getting a massage.
SPEAKER_00: It's so relaxing and therapeutic, and it feels awesome.
SPEAKER_00: I'm so aware of being in my body when I get a massage.
SPEAKER_00: But what if I wasn't?
SPEAKER_00: What if I was like, well, I'm gonna get this massage, but I refuse to enjoy it or participate in any way with what's happening?
SPEAKER_00: It'd be like that episode of Seinfeld where George agrees to get his first massage, but discovers only too late that his massage therapist is a tall, handsome man.
SPEAKER_00: The look on his face is priceless.
SPEAKER_00: That is the look of someone who is too much in his head to be in his body.
SPEAKER_00: Let's look again at those verses we read from Romans 12, okay?
SPEAKER_00: So far we've been focusing on verse 2: transformation, metamorpho-o, okay?
SPEAKER_00: Beginning with the mind.
SPEAKER_00: But look at where this line of thought actually begins.
SPEAKER_00: This was in verse 1.
SPEAKER_00: I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God.
SPEAKER_00: This is your true and proper worship.
SPEAKER_00: Did you know that worship is meant to be an embodied experience?
SPEAKER_00: Huh.
SPEAKER_00: This NIV translation says it's true and proper worship.
SPEAKER_00: Another translation says this is your reasonable and essential worship.
SPEAKER_00: Another says this is your spiritual service.
SPEAKER_00: Another says this is appropriate worship.
SPEAKER_00: Really?
SPEAKER_00: Appropriate.
SPEAKER_00: Having an embodied experience, being aware of being in my body.
SPEAKER_00: That's appropriate, huh?
SPEAKER_00: The New Living Translation simply says, this is truly the way to worship Him.
SPEAKER_00: Now, this is confusing to me because I am a product of my time.
SPEAKER_00: I compartmentalize.
SPEAKER_00: Chances are you also compartmentalize.
SPEAKER_00: Like there's a part of me that's spiritual, right?
SPEAKER_00: And so I want to pursue spiritual growth.
SPEAKER_00: But then there's a separate part of me that's physical, and so I guess I should, you know, at least try and take care of myself.
SPEAKER_00: And there's a part of me that's mental, right?
SPEAKER_00: That's the part where I do my thinking.
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
SPEAKER_00: But there's not a ton of overlap between the things.
SPEAKER_00: That's compartmentalizing, okay?
SPEAKER_00: But that's a little bit like going to Alton Fieldhouse and being like, there's a part of me that's eyes, and that's what I use to watch basketball.
SPEAKER_00: The lines between those areas tend to get kind of smudgy when we read the Bible.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, the Bible, this incredible ancient, pre-Enlightenment, Eastern, multi-genre library of books inspired by God's Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: Look at this.
SPEAKER_00: Paul wrote this to the Thessalonians.
SPEAKER_00: May the God of peace make you holy in every way, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless until our Lord Jesus Christ comes again.
SPEAKER_00: God will make this happen, for he who calls you is faithful.
SPEAKER_00: Wait, being holy, that sounds like a spiritual thing.
SPEAKER_00: What does my body have to do with it?
SPEAKER_00: God will make this happen, he will make me holy in my body?
SPEAKER_00: That's not how I normally think about that.
SPEAKER_00: Paul also said this to the Philippians we are citizens of heaven, where the Lord Jesus Christ lives, and we are eagerly waiting for him to return as our Savior.
SPEAKER_00: He will take our weak and mortal bodies and change them into glorious bodies like his own, using the same power with which he will bring everything under his control.
SPEAKER_00: When Jesus' kingdom comes in all its fullness and everything is made right, and everything is brought back under his control, that's going to include my body?
SPEAKER_00: That's amazing.
SPEAKER_00: When I was a teenager, I used to think verses like this were in the Bible just to keep randy teenagers from doing things with their bodies that they probably shouldn't.
SPEAKER_00: Keep your bodies blameless, kids.
SPEAKER_00: And don't get me wrong, that's likely part of it.
SPEAKER_00: But that is just the beginning.
SPEAKER_00: This understanding of embodiment goes much, much deeper than that.
SPEAKER_00: This mind, body, spirit connection is woven all throughout scripture.
SPEAKER_00: We just don't always see it because we tend to compartmentalize.
SPEAKER_00: Speaking of this mind, body-spirit connection, I was reading some research this week.
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
SPEAKER_00: In the past three decades, a robust series of academic studies has emerged around something called multiple brain preference.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, just bear with me for a minute.
SPEAKER_00: The studies all focused on the decision-making process in humans.
SPEAKER_00: How do people make decisions?
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: How do you make decisions?
SPEAKER_00: You might say, well, I use my brain, right?
SPEAKER_00: I'm a logical thinker.
SPEAKER_00: I'm systematic, I think things through, I make pro-conless, whatever.
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
SPEAKER_00: You might say, I tend to follow my heart.
SPEAKER_00: I'm in touch with my emotions, I tend to start there when I make decisions.
SPEAKER_00: Or you might say, I just go with my gut.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, we say these things, right?
SPEAKER_00: Well, all these responses factored into what scientists were calling dual process decision theory.
SPEAKER_00: The theory is that the decision-making process in humans is a combination of two things: analytical thinking and intuitive thinking, logic and intuition.
SPEAKER_00: You still following me?
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
SPEAKER_00: I made a note here to tell you guys this because I knew you were gonna ask.
SPEAKER_00: This theory fits with emerging theories from the fields of interoceptive awareness, most notably Damasio's somatic marker theory, Thayer's neurovisoral integration model, Craig's findings on the neurobiological basis of interoceptive awareness, and so now you're wondering, Critchley's work on heart-based viscerosensory signaling.
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
SPEAKER_00: I won't bore you with the details because I don't understand the details.
SPEAKER_00: None of that makes any sense to me.
SPEAKER_00: Here's what I do understand.
SPEAKER_00: Here's what made sense to me.
SPEAKER_00: These geniuses have discovered that the same neurons that exist in your brain and account for the cognitive process also exist in your gut, in your gastrointestinal system, and in your heart, in your cardiovascular system.
SPEAKER_00: The same cells.
SPEAKER_00: We didn't know this before.
SPEAKER_00: They're identical.
SPEAKER_00: They're so identical that they still call them neurons, even though they're in your intestines.
SPEAKER_00: So now scientists have begun to say that the human decision-making process is much more complex than just a combination of analysis and intuition.
SPEAKER_00: They're now beginning to believe the process literally engages your heart and your gut as well.
SPEAKER_00: They call this embodied cognition.
SPEAKER_00: Your whole body is involved in the process of thinking.
SPEAKER_00: This means that once again, when the scripture makes the connection between the activity of our bodies present your whole body as a living sacrifice, and the transformation of our minds, it's kind of ahead of its time.
SPEAKER_00: Who would have thought?
SPEAKER_00: This connection, this embodied cognition, the mind-body connection, it works in two directions.
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
SPEAKER_00: Now, our brains can function top-down.
SPEAKER_00: We all understand this.
SPEAKER_00: I can process information in my brain.
SPEAKER_00: Say I read the morning news, okay?
SPEAKER_00: It elicits in my brain the emotion of sadness and frustration.
SPEAKER_00: This message travels to my body, and I naturally adjust my posture and facial expression accordingly.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: Or I can go visit the Cathedral of College Basketball.
SPEAKER_00: My brain processes that information, it elicits in me a response that travels through my body, and now my face and my posture reflect what's happening in my brain, right?
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
SPEAKER_00: Here's the thing that's a more recent understanding, though.
SPEAKER_00: This mind-body connection can also function bottom up.
SPEAKER_00: The same process works in reverse.
SPEAKER_00: I can carry my body in a sad and frustrated sort of posture.
SPEAKER_00: And the neurons in my body are actually carrying that message in reverse back to my brain, eliciting the emotions of sadness and frustration, whether they were there before or not.
SPEAKER_00: And now I actually feel sad.
SPEAKER_00: You can evoke an emotion in your brain by the activity in your body.
SPEAKER_00: That's crazy.
SPEAKER_00: Let's try something together.
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
SPEAKER_00: This is a real thing.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not making this up, okay?
SPEAKER_00: This is called dialectical behavior therapy.
SPEAKER_00: It's used to treat patients with anxiety.
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
SPEAKER_00: Everybody.
SPEAKER_00: Sit up straight, relax, take a couple of deep breaths.
SPEAKER_00: And I want you to look at me and just half a smile.
SPEAKER_00: Not a great big dopey granny I'm gonna prove.
SPEAKER_00: Just Mona Lisa style.
SPEAKER_00: Just half a smile.
SPEAKER_00: Just hold it.
SPEAKER_00: What are you smiling at?
SPEAKER_00: I like smiling.
SPEAKER_00: Smiling is my favorite.
SPEAKER_00: What you've just done is use your body to communicate a message to your brain that the situation you are currently in is not overwhelming.
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
SPEAKER_00: Now that wasn't a professional.
SPEAKER_00: Performance.
SPEAKER_00: It wasn't some big fake dishonest exhibition, right?
SPEAKER_00: Like I'm putting on a happy face, but inside I'm miserable.
SPEAKER_00: No, it's just a half smile.
SPEAKER_00: A simple strategy that therapists are using to help people reverse the feeling of being overwhelmed, simply by half smiling.
SPEAKER_00: Let's go back to talking about worship.
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
SPEAKER_00: I'm the worship pastor here.
SPEAKER_00: Seems like ought to bring it up every once in a while.
SPEAKER_00: Throughout the Bible, God's people were regularly being instructed to use their bodies to participate in worship.
SPEAKER_00: This is ancient, it's pre-Enlightenment.
SPEAKER_00: These people weren't doing as much compartmentalizing as you and I are doing today.
SPEAKER_00: Honestly, I think they'd be a little bit baffled by our modern church services that are part lecture hall, part concert hall.
SPEAKER_00: They were getting instructions like this.
SPEAKER_00: Come, everyone, clap your hands.
SPEAKER_00: Shout to God with joyful praise.
SPEAKER_00: Angela read that earlier as our call to worship.
SPEAKER_00: That would have been a pretty normal instruction.
SPEAKER_00: Or this one: lift up your hands to the holy place and bless the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: God's people were used to using their bodies.
SPEAKER_00: They mourned with their bodies by wearing sackcloth and ashes.
SPEAKER_00: They ministered to each other in their bodies by anointing people with oil or placing their hands on people when they would pray for them.
SPEAKER_00: They worshiped with their bodies by kneeling or by raising their hands.
SPEAKER_00: I don't think they were too much in their heads to be in their bodies.
SPEAKER_00: I grew up in a stream of Christianity where some of this stuff happened in our church services.
SPEAKER_00: And I used to just think that some people were exhibitionists, right?
SPEAKER_00: Like they're really outgoing and they're kind of showy and they want some attention.
SPEAKER_00: So these public physical expressions of worship appeal to them, right?
SPEAKER_00: But some people are reserved and introspective and more internal.
SPEAKER_00: And so these expressions feel unnatural to them.
SPEAKER_00: And they go to quieter churches than the one I grew up in.
SPEAKER_00: But so many of these instructions for worship in the Bible, they're being given to everyone.
SPEAKER_00: It's not like clap your hands, all you exhibitionists.
SPEAKER_00: The rest of you just sit there and watch.
SPEAKER_00: We'd hate for you to be uncomfortable.
SPEAKER_00: You know?
SPEAKER_00: So then I started thinking, well, maybe everyone should be really expressive all the time in their worship.
SPEAKER_00: And all the reserved and introspective people are doing it wrong.
SPEAKER_00: But that's dumb and short-sighted and honestly a little bit mean.
SPEAKER_00: There's clearly a space for introspection.
SPEAKER_00: So now I think that the point of these instructions, the point of these psalms, these instructions for worship is that when we gather, our worship of God should be an experience where we are not too much in our heads to be in our bodies.
SPEAKER_00: What happens when we engage in worship using our bodies, singing, moving to music?
SPEAKER_00: What if I was willing to do some things with my hands that are a physical response to what I'm feeling that day?
SPEAKER_00: Holding my hands open to receive whatever blessing it is that God has for me that day.
SPEAKER_00: Or reaching my hands up high like a little kid who just wants to be picked up and carried for a while.
SPEAKER_00: Or holding my hands over my heart because that's where it hurts today.
SPEAKER_00: Kneeling to pray rather than standing because God is holy, but I'm struggling.
SPEAKER_00: These aren't magical spells, right?
SPEAKER_00: We're not summoning the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: We're not like spiritual air traffic controllers.
SPEAKER_00: Like, park it over at Connect Church today.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: But this embodied cognition signals our brain that something is happening.
SPEAKER_00: Head and heart and gut working together to put ourselves in the position for the Holy Spirit to do his work of transformation.
SPEAKER_00: The people of the Bible, they're getting these instructions for things to do with their bodies to begin their time of worship together, because these embodied activities are going to help them get in the position for God to do his metamorpho-o, his transformative work.
SPEAKER_00: It's like, here comes the ski lift, right?
SPEAKER_00: Let's get ready.
SPEAKER_00: Let's get ready together.
SPEAKER_00: And like I said, sometimes it's top-down, right?
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes it's like being a down field house, and sometimes it's bottom-up, like half smile.
SPEAKER_00: That's how it is for me, anyway.
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes you you guys are really encouraging, I will say.
SPEAKER_00: I get so much encouragement from you guys.
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes after a service, someone, one of you, will come up to me and say, You really looked like you were enjoying yourself up there today when I um playing music.
SPEAKER_00: And I've tried to get over thinking that maybe that's a veiled insult.
SPEAKER_00: Like, uh, we sure can't say much for how things sounded today, but bless your heart.
SPEAKER_00: You sure look like you were having fun, right?
SPEAKER_00: No, I'm past that.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe.
SPEAKER_00: No, I usually say something like, well, playing music should be enjoyable, right?
SPEAKER_00: But what I should say, and I don't know, maybe I'll start saying this.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe I should.
SPEAKER_00: I feel like what I should say is, well, today was a top-down day.
SPEAKER_00: I feel very joyful and peaceful today.
SPEAKER_00: That's moving from my brain into my body, and for whatever reason, is making me want to hop around a little with my guitar.
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
SPEAKER_00: Either that, or I should say, well, I appreciate that you think I look like I was enjoying myself, but I gotta be honest, today was a bottom-up day.
SPEAKER_00: I'm so stressed.
SPEAKER_00: Our world seems to be falling apart.
SPEAKER_00: My loved ones are grieving, or my kids are sick, or my calendar is full, or my mental health is garbage, or whatever.
SPEAKER_00: But I'm choosing to engage my body in worship.
SPEAKER_00: Not because I'm a fake, not because I have anyone to impress or anything to prove, not because I'm afraid of being authentic or vulnerable or honest.
SPEAKER_00: I'm engaging my body in worship because this mind-body-spirit connection is real.
SPEAKER_00: And the lines between those things get blurry, and because I need for the transformative work God has done in me to be manifested in my body so that a message can be sent to my brain that I am not, in fact, overwhelmed.
SPEAKER_00: If I look like I was enjoying myself today, it's because I need to not be too much in my head to be in my body.
SPEAKER_00: My wife talks about what she calls outside church.
SPEAKER_00: She's one of those people who's fairly reserved, introspective, internal when it comes to worship.
SPEAKER_00: But sometimes she goes out for a walk in a quiet, peaceful place.
SPEAKER_00: And if you stumbled upon her while she was doing that, you would say, What is that beautiful woman doing walking around with her arms out and a huge smile on her face?
SPEAKER_00: If you see her, don't engage with her.
SPEAKER_00: Let's let her go.
SPEAKER_00: She's having outside church, right?
SPEAKER_00: Whether it's a top-down day or a bottom-up day, she's engaging her body in prayer and in worship.
SPEAKER_00: That's an ancient man.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, they used to put hedge mazes in monasteries so the monks could do the exact same thing, right?
SPEAKER_00: That's one example.
SPEAKER_00: Then there's the lady who dances sometimes.
SPEAKER_00: Have you seen?
SPEAKER_00: Have you seen this lady?
SPEAKER_00: She's not very tall, so if you sit very far back, you might actually not see her.
SPEAKER_00: But there's a no joke, there is a 75-year-old woman who goes to church here who sometimes with no warning pushes past the people in her row and comes down here to this empty space and dances while we're singing.
SPEAKER_00: And I don't think she's even got those orthopedic shoes that Bruce was wearing.
SPEAKER_00: Well, that's my mom.
SPEAKER_00: She's been doing that for most of my life, which was awesome when I was a teenager.
SPEAKER_00: Oh my gosh, mom, what?
SPEAKER_00: What are you doing?
SPEAKER_00: This is so embarrassing.
SPEAKER_00: I didn't get it then, but I think I get it now, you know.
SPEAKER_00: She she's not an exhibitionist.
SPEAKER_00: She's not looking for attention.
SPEAKER_00: She's just not too much in her head to be in her body.
SPEAKER_00: It's an act of worship and it's an act of embodied cognition.
SPEAKER_00: And I would bet sometimes it's top-down, right?
SPEAKER_00: Dancing in response to something.
SPEAKER_00: And sometimes it's bottom-up.
SPEAKER_00: It's a dancing to send a message to yourself, a reminder about what you believe about who God really is.
SPEAKER_00: Either way, that's ancient too.
SPEAKER_00: King David did it in the royal palace, in his undies nonetheless.
SPEAKER_00: Embarrassed the heck out of everyone, so it could be worse.
SPEAKER_00: So, what barriers are there?
SPEAKER_00: What things are there that might keep the rest of us from engaging our bodies in God's work of transformation?
SPEAKER_00: Well, being out of touch with my own body, perhaps.
SPEAKER_00: Having a negative view of myself, having a negative perception of how someone else uses their body to engage in worship, not having respect for my own body.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you came from a stream of Christianity where anything physical other than singing was deemed inappropriate.
SPEAKER_00: Well, what spiritual practices could help us with this?
SPEAKER_00: Well, I'm gonna count to three, and then I want all you to just start dancing, okay?
SPEAKER_00: I'm kidding.
SPEAKER_00: I'm kidding, I'm kidding.
SPEAKER_00: How about we try something very simple together, okay?
SPEAKER_00: This is gonna be just as easy as the half smile.
SPEAKER_00: Monks used to pray this way.
SPEAKER_00: They used to begin the day with a prayer, what they called recollection or a centering prayer.
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna call it simply palms up, palms down.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, can we try palms up, palms down together?
SPEAKER_00: Okay, just sit up, sit up, just like we did for half smile, relax your shoulders.
SPEAKER_00: Take a deep breath, and place your palms in your lap, palms down on your legs.
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
SPEAKER_00: This little embodied exercise is meant to show that you want to hand over your requests to God.
SPEAKER_00: Psalm 55, 22 says, give your burdens to the Lord, and he will take care of you.
SPEAKER_00: So as you sit in the Lord's presence with your palms down, just begin to name any worries or anxieties you might have about today.
SPEAKER_00: Don't pray what you think God wants to hear.
SPEAKER_00: Pray what's on your mind, pray what's heavy on your heart.
SPEAKER_00: Name it.
SPEAKER_00: Imagine yourself releasing it to God.
SPEAKER_00: You may even want to picture our Heavenly Father putting his hands underneath yours to receive all those things you're handing over to him.
SPEAKER_00: Just take a moment to do that.
SPEAKER_00: If you were doing this by yourself, you could take a long time for that step, right?
SPEAKER_00: Each day has its own worries.
SPEAKER_00: There's no shortage, but we're gonna move on to the next step, which is simply to turn your hands around, palms up, keep the backs of your hands resting gently on your legs, and as you do, begin to ask Jesus to give you his peace, his courage, his presence, his love, his action, whatever you need.
SPEAKER_00: Ask him to replace those worries or concerns, whatever else it was that you released to the Lord just a minute ago.
SPEAKER_00: And for a moment, just rest in this holy exchange.
SPEAKER_00: Receive fresh peace, presence, and power in place of the concerns and requests you handed over.
SPEAKER_00: And again, if you were doing this on your own, you could take as long as you want to just rest in that exchange, to enjoy the Lord's presence, maybe without making any requests at all, just being with our Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Alright, see, that's not so bad.
SPEAKER_00: That's not so bad, is it?
SPEAKER_00: You know, there's this one other ancient practice of embodiment that I would like for us to do together today.
SPEAKER_00: It's one I'm particularly fond of.
SPEAKER_00: It's one of the few things we do in worship that Jesus Himself instructed us to do, and that is taking communion.
SPEAKER_00: We're going to do this today as well.
SPEAKER_00: If you just remain seated and relaxed, it's okay, just find the elements close by.
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
SPEAKER_00: You know, as as Christianity spread out from Asia Minor in the first and second centuries, some people thought that the Christians were cannibals.
SPEAKER_00: Did you know that?
SPEAKER_00: Have you heard?
SPEAKER_00: They would say they talk about eating flesh and drinking blood.
SPEAKER_00: Yes, yes, they do.
SPEAKER_00: And yes, it's weird.
SPEAKER_00: And in fact, the more modern and compartmentalized our thinking becomes, the weirder this ancient practice seems.
SPEAKER_00: But really, it is another embodied act of worship.
SPEAKER_00: Not just an act of memory or intellect or ritual, but embodied cognition.
SPEAKER_00: We're doing something with our bodies that communicates a timeless and beautiful spiritual truth.
SPEAKER_00: Bottom up into our minds.
SPEAKER_00: That truth is that the God who created the universe loved us so much that he entered this realm as a human, in a human body with human blood.
SPEAKER_00: And that long before you and I decided whether or not we wanted to hand control of our lives over to this God, the body he showed up in was broken, and the blood it held was spilled for us.
SPEAKER_00: God's great, glorious act of embodied love seared freshly into our minds every time we take communion in remembrance of Him.
SPEAKER_00: So pray with me, would you?
SPEAKER_00: Dear Jesus, we thank you so much for the sacrifice of your body on the cross, a brutal exhibition of embodied love.
SPEAKER_00: We thank you for what you endured on our behalf, what it means to us to partake of these elements in a way that reminds us that we are being transformed little by little to better reflect your glorious image.
SPEAKER_00: Would you please partake of the body?
SPEAKER_00: Lord Jesus, we thank you so much for the blood applied, the price paid, and the shedding of blood, grisly though it may be, sear this fresh in our memories, in our cognitive embodiment.
SPEAKER_00: Help us to not forget the gift of your sacrifice.
SPEAKER_00: Help us to continue to position ourselves and to uh be available for your transformative work that begins with the forgiveness of our sins because of your blood shed.
SPEAKER_00: Please partake of the blood.
SPEAKER_00: Would you all stand and join these folks in worship?
SPEAKER_00: And as we move into worship together, I would just like to encourage you to please consider how you could use the postures, the expressions, the actions of your body either as a top-down expression of what's in your mind or as a bottom up expression signaling to your brain what it is that you want to feel today.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.