Participating in Bodily Worship
For human beings, worship is both a physical and a spiritual activity. When the Apostle Paul tells us to "Offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God--this is your true and proper (' logikos ') worship," I think the first application pertains to what Christians do when they assemble on Sunday morning. The place of worship has moved from the temple in Jerusalem to the assembly of the faithful. Instead of offering a ram or a bull, the congregation unites itself to Christ's offering of himself on the cross. All who are united to Christ a members of his royal priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices (1 Peter 2:5). But Christian worship is still a bodily, physical activity. Every one of us is a somatic psycho-social whole. Even our thoughts and our emotions take place in physical bodies. What we do with our bodies shapes our perceptions and our affections. Among the ways that can Christians "offer their bodies" in worship ar...