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Prayer and the body
There is a curious disconnect in mainstream Christianity between our bodies and our spirituality. The flesh is sinful and corrupt, we’ve been told; we must resist its temptations. Don’t eat too much, don’t drink too much, don’t get too fat (or too thin). Don’t be lustful or hedonistic - and if you are, you’d better feel guilty about it.
As a singer, a lot of my professional life has involved paying close attention to my breath and my body, and all the fleshy details of singing (can I get my soft palate any higher? I must steam to restore la voce!). A year ago I thought that investigating a vocation to the priesthood meant deliberately turning away from all of this: choosing the spiritual over the corporeal. I was pretty smug about it, which should have been a clue that God had a twist in store.
As it turns out, using your body merely as a vehicle to carry your brain around isn’t the best idea. “The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone”, after all, and when I noticed a couple of months ago that I seemed to have entered a spiritual drought, I grudgingly decided to try a different way. Turning back to my body felt like failing, but it was actually both interesting and effective. I’m doing ten minutes a day of guided meditation, and I’ve added some sensible exercise, all of which has improved the quality of my attention during prayer.
What works for me won’t work for everyone, but what I’ve discovered is that being prayerful doesn’t mean ignoring my body. Christianity has clues to this, of course: there is a great tradition of connecting the physical and spiritual by incorporating physical acts into prayer. Holding something, singing or chanting prayers out loud, or counting prayer beads can be the key to keeping your attention on the prayer itself.
Jesus didn’t reject the physical - far from it. The most moving parts of Jesus’s ministry are often depictions of his physical interactions with people: eating with them, healing them with his hands. He didn’t transcend the mortification of his body, but endured physical pain to the very last. As a memorial of this sacrifice, he left us the Eucharist, at the centre of which is that very physical act of consuming bread and wine as we meditate on the words at the heart of the Eucharist: ‘This is my body’, ‘This is my blood.
This week, challenge yourself to pray a little more physically. It might make all the difference.
Esther Brazil Ministerial Assistant |
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The Week Ahead
This Sunday
Sunday 22nd July - The Feast of Mary Magdalen
10.30 Choral Eucharist
Preacher: The Revd Dr William Lamb
15.30 Choral Evensong - Chancel
Sung by the University Church Choir
Responses William Smith
Canticles Short Service, Orlando Gibbons
Anthem Almighty and Everlasting God, Gibbons
Next Week
Monday, Bridget, 1373 09.00 Morning Prayer - Chancel 12.15 Eucharist - Chancel
Tuesday 09.00 Morning Prayer - Chancel
12.15 Eucharist - Chancel
Wednesday, James the Great 09.00 Morning Prayer - Chancel
12.15 Eucharist - Chancel
Thursday Anne and Joachim 09.00 Morning Prayer - Chancel 12.15 Eucharist - Chancel
Friday Brooke Foss Westcott, 1901 09.00 Morning Prayer - Chancel
12.15 Eucharist - Chancel 14.00 Free Concert: Robin Jackson Nave
Saturday 14.00 Pilgrimage and Pub - Meet in De Brome Chapel
Next Sunday
Sunday 29th July - The Ninth Sunday after Trinity
10.30 Choral Eucharist
Preacher: The Revd Canon Dr Judith Maltby
15.30 Choral Evensong - Chancel Sung by the University Church Choir Responses Thomas Tomkins
Canticles Short Service, Thomas Tallis Anthem View me, Lord, Richard Lloyd
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| Organ Recitals
Our summer music series continues through August with a number of free organ recitals on Sundays at 15.30. All are very welcome.
5 Aug Alexander Pott (Assistant Organist, Magdalen College, Oxford)
12 Aug Graham Schultz (Church of the Incarnation, Dallas, Texas, USA)
19 Aug Josef Laming (Royal Academy of Music, London)
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| | | Pilgrimage & Pub
This Saturday, please join James Crockford and Liz Adams for the first of our Oxford pilgrimages. We will be walking to St Mary’s, Iffley. There will be a chance to look around, pause for prayer, and pop to a nearby watering hole before the return leg. Please gather, with suitable walking footwear, sun hat and a water bottle, in the De Brome Chapel to leave at 14.00. If you would rather meet us at the destination church, please aim for 15.00.
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| | | St Mary's Volunteers Fair
Many members of St Mary’s congregation are already involved with and support voluntary organisations– e.g. Oxford Food Bank, Gatehouse, Christian Aid, prison visiting, Home Start, Parkinson’s Association, etc. We are planning a ‘Volunteers Fair’ to showcase this work and to encourage others to get involved. There is to be a planning meeting in the Old Library at 12noon on Sunday 16 September. The Fair itself will take place after the service on Sunday, 14 October. If you would like to be involved, please contact: Margaret Lipscomb (M.Lipscomb@ntlworld.com) or Janet Greenland (janetgreenland@gmail.com).
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| | Sponsored Cycle
Choir member and church clock keeper Rupert Griffin is cycling from Land’s End to John O’Groats later this summer to raise money for Thames Valley Air Ambulance - who saved his life after he was involved in a serious traffic accident: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/rupert-griffin. Please support him!
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