The Holy Service stems from a time when most people worked the fields and were illiterate, thus needed some intellectual – read: written – inspiration, but not at all any more physical exercise. Today, quite on the contrary, we are flooded with intellectual stimuli and want to turn off our minds if not at work. Our bodies on the other hand are mostly slump and yearn to be worked out. The setting for the Holy Service thus has changed fundamentally: modern services shall be inspirational work out classes. Our body is the temple of our soul. It is no surprise that the average Holy Service participants are 60+ and that Christian Yoga classes find increasing acceptance.
How to combine physical “Sunday exercise” with the sociological mitigating function of Holy Services – read: the mingling of different generations, young and old? Start with a simple common exercise, split up in age group exercises, and reunite exercises for old and young at certain times. Western Church shall learn from Chinese Daoisms that since its foundations 2000 years ago has core values of physical exercise embodied in taiji and qigong. Certain forms of taiji are demanding for the young and fit, others refreshing for the old and ailing. I would certainly attend service again, if a rabbi like Ben Stiller or a priest like Edward Norton in Keeping the Faith try their best to work out their audience with humor and wit.
How to combine physical “Sunday exercise” with the sociological mitigating function of Holy Services – read: the mingling of different generations, young and old? Start with a simple common exercise, split up in age group exercises, and reunite exercises for old and young at certain times. Western Church shall learn from Chinese Daoisms that since its foundations 2000 years ago has core values of physical exercise embodied in taiji and qigong. Certain forms of taiji are demanding for the young and fit, others refreshing for the old and ailing. I would certainly attend service again, if a rabbi like Ben Stiller or a priest like Edward Norton in Keeping the Faith try their best to work out their audience with humor and wit.
RSS Feed