An Integrated Reality

 "As the body is clothed with cloth and the muscles in the skin and the bones in the muscles and the heart in the chest, so are we, body and soul, clothed in the Goodness of God and enclosed."

                                                                                         -- Julian of Norwich

The above quote from Julian of Norwich (likely not her real name, but we don't know much about her at all except that she lived in the 14th century and was an English "nun") is an incredible word picture about God's hold on us.

In many Christian songs we use romantic language like this, but how often do we take that romantic language and really mediate on it?

Notice Julian's progression from outside of the body -- the clothes -- and moves inward to our heart and even the soul. We're enclosed, enfolded, engulfed in the divine goodness of God. This reminds me of another church lady named Hildegard who often wrote of Jesus' hug; yes, a divine hug. Being wrapped in the arms of Christ. Here Julian takes it a step farther: our skin is the very goodness of God.

Personally, I don't draw a very sharp line between the body and soul of a human. As such, physical experiences like exercise, eating, sex and great discussion over coffee can be incredible spiritual experiences. 17th century Christian monastic, Brother Lawrence wrote in his famous work, Practice of the Presence of God, that he was as much at worship in a busy kitchen at the monastery as he was on his knees in his prayer chamber. What if we strove for that? What if we made a conscious effort -- not necessarily all of the time, but honestly tried -- to think of our physical, day-to-day activities as small theophanies? 

As Christians in the U.S. I know that it can feel a little like there is a sharp distinction between what we do in "worship" (usually a misconception of what it means to devote a small amount of time to God) and what we do in our lives (or what I would call your true worship). It is because of this tendency that we must make time to acknowledge the integrated connections between our muscles, heart, and soul and how the reality of God's existence is "written in our very skin".

Peace,
C.M.