The two previous blogs this month talked about our worship bodily “behavior”–namely clapping. One aspect of this discussion didn’t crop up yet–I think some of our discomfort with the conversation is the fact that many of us are ambivalent about whether or not we can even BRING our bodies into worship! Sometimes I think we feel we should check our bodies outside the door. The church has had a long and varied history in relationship to bodies and certainly the Protestant Reformation with its emphasis on the Word and sanctuaries getting filled with pews didn’t help the case for whole body involvement.

I’ll be sure to extend this conversation sometime to the subject of dance in worship. But for now I want to share a video with you of some wonderfully rich worship expression from a choir from Christ United Methodist Church of the Deaf in Baltimore, Maryland  embodying an anthem with American Sign Language. Then continue to watch the video to see a clip from the same service where the entire congregation was invited to embody some of the word-images of the Prayer of Thanksgiving Over the Water before our Remembrance of Baptism.

Christ UMC Deaf Choir at General Conference

Consider inviting someone who speaks (or is studying to speak) American Sign Language, to lead your congregation in something simple. If you can, invite a Sign Interpreter to interpret your service whether or not you have hearing-impaired persons attending.  It just may get out that your services are interpreted for deaf persons and folks might just show up because of it!