Worship Is Whole-Person, All the Time (II)
Respecting Your Own Life
Following on, attending to one’s body extends into respecting one’s life. Some rush through three meals a day — what did they eat? They don’t know. What did it taste like? Don’t remember. Others can spend three hours preparing one dinner. Some find one minute of exercise too long; others happily spend three hours in the gym, attending to every muscle. Some watch films to kill time; others can dwell on one scene for days. A simple leg raise leaves some sore for days; others can dance for two hours and laugh aloud. You might call it interest — I would say it is about whether we are able to touch the small inner world of our own lives, find resonance there, and find our own outlet.
With even a little touching of our own lives, the worship-life begins to start.
Worship-as-life is not just singing hymns, not just dance. It is about how, through some medium, we live ‘life’ — the living, breathing ‘life’ — and let God walk with us in the things we care for (cooking, films, exercise, dance), touching our own lives, touching that ‘I.’
We do not worship through form alone, for form is not life — and certainly not living. Where there is space for a small corner of our own to touch our heart — ‘touch it, feel it, live it’ — that release, that mild loosening, is worship beginning. Walk with Jesus. (to be continued)
