The Yoga of the Eucharist

John 6:51-58

One of the great gifts of the religions of India to the world is their amazing awareness and appreciation of how thoroughly our physical bodies are interconnected with our souls – with that invisible place within us where we are uniquely “ourselves.” I personally like to use the word “soul” to name that hidden dimension of myself where I am uniquely “me” But whether we call it “soul” or “heart” or “inner self,” or “mind” or “spirit” or something else altogether – it is there. It is real. It is within each one of us. And we rightly treasure it as God's gift. We can only share it with those we trust, those whose love for us has been proven, over time, to be real and mature and steadfast.

In religions which grew up in Western cultures, such as our own, we are also clear that we have physical bodies. And we also believe that we have this private, inner dimension that I am calling “soul.” But, over the centuries, we in the West seem to have grown less and less aware and appreciative of how deeply interconnected body and soul actually are. In our quest for material progress and dominance, we have created cultures that foster a deep dis-connection between our bodies and our souls. And, inevitably, these cultural patterns affect how we understand and practice our faith.

But we don't find this unhealthy disconnectedness in Jesus, the Head of the Church (Col. 1:18). In fact, our experience and understanding of Jesus is that, in him, the fullness of God was embodied (Col. 1:19). He was anything but disconnected. And throughout the Gospels Jesus explicitly addresses the dangers of this disconnect between our bodies and our souls. He points out the absurdity of a life in which we “make” the body do certain things which appear “holy,” without having awareness of what's actually going on in our lives at a “soul level.” He describes this disconnecting of body and soul with metaphors like, washing only the “outside” of a cup; or brightly painting the outside of a building when, on the inside, there is no real vitality at all (Mat 23:25-28). Interestingly, Jesus contrasts this kind of disconnection that we human beings fall into with the integrity of plants... because plants lack the ability to be disconnected. There is always harmony between a plant's “inner life” and its “outer life.” Thorn bushes never grow grapes, or figs; they only grow thorns (Mat 7:15-19). But the greater mental powers of human beings allow us to use our bodies in ways, which make it appear outwardly as if something very different was going on within our souls. And Jesus was continually pointing out this disturbance in which the body and the soul were no longer in harmonious relationship with one another.

Later on, in the epistles, the apostles -- Paul, and James, and John – also pick up the same theme again and again, because people in their churches were not grasping the contradictions between what their bodies were doing in the world and their inner confession of faith that the Spirit of the Living Christ was dwelling within them. When the apostles took a close look at how these converts' bodies were actually behaving – they saw crimes against women (1Cor 6:15-20), alcohol abuse (Eph 5:15-20), discriminating against the poor (James 5), acting vengefully towards others within the community (1 Jn 2:3-11), and so on. And so Paul, and James, and John all conclude that if indeed the inner lives of these persons was being governed by the Spirit of Christ, then their outer lives should look a whole lot more like the Body of Christ, like Jesus, whom they knew and loved. Something was not working. Something was missing in their understanding and practice of the faith. But what was it?

We can see that this disconnect between the body and the soul is not something new. It was a problem that Jesus and the apostles were addressing way back in ancient Palestine. It's a problem that has a very long history, particularly in Western cultures. And this is one reason why it can be very helpful for us to look at non-western cultures and religions, especially those which seem to lack this problem that is so rampant in the West. For example, in the various religions of India, a common part of their “catechism,” if we can call it that, involves learning at a very practical level how the body is inseparably connected to the soul. They learn through exercises which are both physical and spiritual how to simultaneously care for the body and the soul. This is not to say that all people in Asia are saints. But their cultures have, in many ways, grown to be more compatible with the kind of body-and-soul integration that we encounter in the person of Jesus, and that the early church sought to cultivate in their individual lives and their spiritual communities.

It is quite amazing to notice how spiritual practices in which body and soul are brought together in harmonious relation with one another – practices like yoga and meditation – are spreading like wildfire in Europe and North America. This is not coincidental. Whether it's conscious or not, we in the West are searching, very desperately, for greater harmony between our outer lives and our inner lives.

For Example, Don't try this in the pew, or you might accidentally hit your neighbor (but you can try it when you get home). You can intentionally open up your soul, that place where you are uniquely “you,” to the limitless love of God... by intentionally opening wide your arms. As I am doing this, I can feel the muscles in my chest, gently stretching, loosening up, becoming more flexible. And, interestingly, I feel more open, more present, emotionally and personally. I even feel somewhat more vulnerable, like my soul – that hidden part of me where I am uniquely “me” – is somehow becoming more visible.

And so, right now, in this very moment, I am learning, I am proving to myself that there is a real connection between the posture of my body and the posture of my soul. (I'm not proving it to you, because you're not experiencing what I am. But you can experiment with it later, and prove to yourself that there is a real, living connection between your body and your soul.)

Now, so what? Why does any of this matter? This is the Anglican Church for crying out loud, not some yoga club in California!!! It matters because it is important for us to understand, at a very practical level, that the Sacramental act of receiving Holy Communion is a spiritual exercise that places our bodies & our souls into transforming postures toward God in Christ through the Holy Spirit.

When you come up to the altar for Communion, or when we bring Communion down to you in the sanctuary... on one level it's just me, giving you a piece of bread. It's just the Communion Assistant giving you a sip of wine. But, at the very same time, on a soul level, it's not us at all... It is the Living Christ. The Communion Assistants and I are serving as “stand-ins,” visible signs of the invisible, but Real, Presence of Christ. The One you are actually taking into your body and soul is God in Christ through the Holy Spirit.

When your bodily posture goes like this (cupping your outstretched hands, right over left), you're also going like this at a soul level. In both body and soul, you're expressing the intention: “Here I am, I open and offer to you, O God, my most private, inner self, the “me” that no one but you ever gets to fully see.” And immediately.. ...in the placing of the consecrated bread and the cup into your hands, God is responding to you, saying: “Here I am, here is my own Self, my own Divine Life, freely given for you... because you need me to really live, because I am the true food and true drink that nourishes you, body and soul.” And, with that, the Communion, the sharing, back-and-forth, between the Divine Self and our selves, is finished. And yet, its empowerment for living is just beginning. Jesus says to us in today's Gospel: “Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them. Just as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me will live because of me.”

If I were explaining the process of this Eucharistic Liturgy to someone in India, I would probably have to say that what we are doing here is practicing a very advanced and powerful form of Christian yoga. The word 'yoga' literally means “yoke”; like what farmers used to put on pairs of oxen to plow their fields.

A yoga, or yoke, is a practical means of bridging what has become separated... bringing the two together, into communion with one another... so that they can then work together, co-operatively, as one (Mat 11:26-30). Body & soul are brought together in the “yoga” of the Eucharist. Human & Divine are brought together. All that are estranged are brought together... into the grace of relationship.

You can see how using this little word “yoga,” or yoke, could really help a person from India understand the awesome nature of what it is that we are engaging in here this morning in the Eucharist. And, perhaps, describing the Eucharist in this way, as a kind of “Christian yoga,” might help us to better understand and practice it as well.

One thing is certain: The more aware and appreciative we become of the interconnections between these simple postures of our bodies and the postures of our souls toward God, the more powerfully transforming this Eucharist becomes in our lives.