I am inclined to chronicle a series of thoughts I have concerning worship and the life of a follower of Christ.
My most recent is represented in a verse I have grown very fond of. Romans 12:1 has always been a startling verse to me. I was meditating over it last night in Portland Brew when a thought came to me. First, the nature of this verse discusses an urge from Paul in the view of God's mercy to present our bodies as living sacrifices holy and pleasing to God for this is our spiritual act of worship. Notice the reference to a "living sacrifice". We can break this down and find that the word "living" is one of 2 words used in the Bible to describe life. This one is Zao. It is reference to a spiritual life as opposed to a mere existing. It refers to the fullest kind of living. A holistic living. Also, the word sacrifice is a feminine noun rooted from the more popular verb "to sacrifice", which indicates a kind of being instead of doing. For example, being a living sacrifice is different from just being a "live" sacrifice. Abraham's lamb was a live sacrifice. But what Paul is referring to is an existence that is sacrifice. This is backed up in the following statement that this presentation of our bodies is a "spiritual act of worship". We live this. But how?
What fascinates me foremost is the dual reference to the body being spiritual. After Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit came to dwell in man, we encountered the church age-long struggle we understand so well between our spirit and flesh. Biblical examples and references occur in John 6:63, Rom. 7:24, 8:10 & 13, 1 Cor. 9:27, 2 Cor. 5:8, 1 Th 4:4, and 1 Pe 4:1. We feel, schizophrenic in a way, because our Spirit guides us in the will of God and our flesh seems to tempt us to abase ourselves in non-spiritual actions. This being said, we see here in Romans 12:1, this idea that even the body can be Zao and "a spiritual act". The "how", I believe is found in the context.
Our body's are "to be presented as living sacrifices". So what are we sacrificing? (At this point, I will refer to the gospel according to erin faith.)
I always believed that what we sacrificed was our will or our power. But I have a new idea, I believe that what we sacrifice our really our prudence. The same way a lover would go willingly and uninhibited into the arms of it's partner to voluntarily experience the pleasure of being loved exuberantly; this is how I view worship. If our act is worship, and we must sacrifice to experience it, then we must be sacrificing the thing that keeps us from that worship. I believe that our body is not the enemy, just the rebel. I often felt a need to break my body's will, and dismantle it, in way. Instead, I now feel that what I need to do is call it to a higher standard. I believe that God desires our body to experience what the Spirit is experiencing. All of its existential wildness and ecstasy. This comes by sacrificing the inhibitions of the body. The body begs for safety and comfort, but the Spirit has no need for such claims. It lives a much greater and wilder existence.
Worship is connection. It is relationship. Thus, if our body's are the spiritual action of this worship, then it seems that the Scriptures are hinting at something more habitual and constant. Our body's once free of their inhibitions, live in a spiritual existence. We believe that the spiritual world is all around us and yet we walk numbly through it. I feel that God is calling us to tap into the Spiritual world, and on a more regular basis than just in typical spiritual acts. If both soul and body can share spiritual goals and desires, then this unlocks a whole new existence.
Often, our carnal selves keep us from experiencing the Spiritual world. While I sit and write this, my refrigerator is humming in the background. It is a constant hum, but I rarely notice it. Not until I create a focused effort to listen, do I hear it. I feel that this is similar with the spiritual world and the voice of God. Its always there, but we are often distracted and numbed. What if Paul, is saying to us, that the body does not have to be a hindrance to Spiritual things, but a channel? What if our body's do not have to be forbidden the experiences of the Spirit? We, as Christ followers, would have a monopoly on this idea. The predominate ideas see the body as a hindrance to be discarded (Buddhism, Asceticism, etc.) or the body's desires are the only desires that matter (Paganism, Secular Humanism, etc.). So what if the body could be Spiritual? I believe that Romans 12:1 is showing us a way. We live the sacrifice. We tap into the mind of God and we discover the Spiritual creatures we know we are, without having to self-loathe our needy epidermis. I believe that there are thousands of ways to make a body the instrument of the Spiritual, but I might just have to spend those thoughts another day.
on pilgrimage
