Spirituality and the Body

Several months ago I was struck by something an gentleman said in an older adult Sunday School class that I was visiting. This class--department, actually--meets with "assembly" time and then breaks up into more classes. During this assembly time they usually share prayer concerns. After a long list of knee replacements, hip surgeries, and numerous other physical ailments, this man stood up and said, "I just want to say one thing. All these prayer requests are good...and their needed. But when was the last time anyone shared a spiritual prayer request?" There were some nods as the room fell silent. We then proceeded to round the bases of good Baptist prayer that would get us to the lesson time. I'm not sure if it sunk in with anyone else, but it caused me to think.

Don't get me wrong, I don't want to drive a wedge between body and spirit--but we have a harder time sharing emotional or spiritual needs. I think it's ironic how our society does so much to protect our privacy at hospitals and doctor's offices regarding our "physical" condition, but that's the only thing we often feel like we can talk and pray with one another about. Perhaps it's easier to discuss physical ailments because there's a sense in which we blame ourselves and others for our emotional or spiritual ailments. Physical ailments aren't our fault--they just happen. Physical conditions are "safe."

But think of African American churches...the prayer requests I'd hear at just about any church AME, Missionary Baptist, whatever, would be full of spiritual and emotional prayer requests as well as physical ones. The only reason I can account for this is that the community has a tradition of being closer to one another and being more open with their feelings.

I think it might also stem from the fact that, as I like to put it, we know one another's hands (so-and-so's physical condition, which committee they're on, how long they've volunteered, etc) but we don't know one an other's hearts. Thus, we can only talk about hands. To venture somewhere else is to risk vulnerability. Now there are obviously levels of intimacy peppered here and there at church, but I'm willing to bet that on the whole, most churches struggle to provide a congregational culture of openness.

Thoughts?