Living Embodied Faith

“Almighty God, you know that we have no power in ourselves to help ourselves: Keep us both outwardly in our bodies and inwardly in our souls, that we may be defended from all adversities which may happen to the body, and from all evil thoughts which may assault and hurt the soul; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.”

From the Book of Common Prayer, Collect for the 3rd Sunday in Lent.

The collect for today the 3rd Sunday in lent could not be more perfect for where we are in the world. We confess to God that God knows we humans have no power in ourselves to ultimately help ourselves. We can wash our hands, we can use Purell, we can eat healthy foods, take our vitamins, get some exercise and sleep. We can socially isolate. We can help out neighbors. We can do so many things and yet ultimately most of us cannot 100% prevent getting this virus. How does this not raise fear and uncertainty for people worldwide? We have to accept a certain amount of powerlessness if we are to move through this time of fear and uncertainty. We can both do what is in our power to do (follow the recommendations of the CDC) AND surrender to a loving God. The collect then says we ask God to “keep us both outwardly in our bodies and inwardly in our souls.” Here we hear this theme from last week’s gospel reading again with Jesus and Nicodemus; Jesus saying we are born of water and spirit. We are flesh AND spirit; we must tend to both as we move through all times, especially times with fear and uncertainty. We need healthy food and plenty of water. We need to be mindful of how our decisions not only impact our bodies but others’ bodies too. AND, we must tend to our souls and the souls of others; in all our obsessive news monitoring, we need space and time away from that frenzy to connect with life-giving friends or family by phone, email, text, Facetime, hangouts, Zoom, time to dwell in Scripture, prayer and meditation, and in safe ways reach out to neighbors we don’t know as well to tend in healthy ways to their bodied and souls. I’ve seen people on Facebook offer to pick up  groceries for the elderly and deliver it to their house. Another neighbor has offered to bring food to families whose children may not otherwise eat since schools are closing. No need to get overwhelmed with the idea of helping your neighbor, friends. Simply do the next right thing… pray about it. Ask God what you can do with God’s help. Allow the Holy Spirit to guide you into whatever little part you might offer your neighbor in the spirit of sharing God’s love and peace that you have already received. 

Our fears and uncertainties can create a wind of its own, and we are not called to go with the wind of fear and uncertainty. It takes work and intention to stay grounded, rooted, centered in a loving God both receiving God’s love and extending it to others. The collect continues that we pray that we may be defended from all adversities which may happen to the body; we pray we will and all people, all creation may be defended from this virus and other bodily adversities. 

This last part of the collect is key too… we pray that we will be defended from all evil thoughts which may assault and hurt the soul. Those evil thoughts can come from within or they can be when we share our evil thoughts with others or they share theirs with us. Sometimes we take “evil” way out on the edge defining evil as “very, very dark” and therefore preventing us from looking at possible evil thoughts because we’ve defined them as so “other.” And, yet I believe there are all kinds of “garden variety evil thoughts” we have and sometimes share with others that can be harmful in their own way. I’m starting to ask myself in this Lenten season what thoughts do I have that do not serve God? What thoughts do I entertain about myself and other people that work against a loving God dwelling within and moving about this world? What thoughts do I share with others that potentially block or work against their capacity to access a loving God? We all need close friends or family to vent and share with. People who we can share our darkest, inner thoughts; it helps take the thunder out of evil thoughts to share them aloud with someone we trust. This is incredibly helpful. So, I’m not advocating never sharing our evil thoughts with anyone; on the contrary, I think it is helpful and restores us back to God at our center. We oftentimes cannot find our way home to God’s love at our core without help from trusted friends or family. And, are there thoughts that I can let go of? That I have already reasoned out, and now the work is letting them go? The work is NOT entertaining them; the work is letting them go. When I’m honest with myself there thoughts that don’t even need to reasoned out with anyone, it is a simple prayer of asking God to take them from me. Are there boundaries I need to draw with other people about what I share and what I don’t that leaves our loving God with more room and space to defend evil thoughts within others and myself?

As we move through this strange time of fear and uncertainty, I pray that each of us will lean individually and as a community into living our faith in more embodied ways. I pray we won’t try and tough out the stress of this time only experiencing isolation and fear, hunkering down with irritation and panic. I pray that when these natural human emotions arise, we might notice they are present and take them to our loving God and pray: Almighty God, you know that we have no power in ourselves to help ourselves: Keep us both outwardly in our bodies and inwardly in our souls, that we may be defended from all adversities which may happen to the body, and from all evil thoughts which may assault and hurt the soul. I pray we might reach out to a dear friend or family member and connect reminding ourselves that we are not alone. We might practice loving kindness for ourselves and each other. In the darkness we might more fully and deeply receive God’s love anew to strengthen our capacity to endure hard times, and that each of us may have the courage to reach out to a neighbor (whether known or unknown) and extend God’s love into this crazy old world. May God’s love and peace be with you this week, friends, and may you be blessed by the presence of angels through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. 

You can find an extended podcast episode of this nugget here.

You can find a transcript of the podcast episode here.

You can find a 2 loving kindness meditations: 5 minute here and 25 minute here.