Physical Worship – Kissing
Physical Worship – Kissing.
“Beloved friends, what should be our proper response to God’s marvelous mercies? With eyes wide open to His mercies, here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: I encourage you, as an act of sensible, intelligent worship, to surrender yourselves to God to be His sacred, living sacrifice. Make a decisive dedication of your bodies, presenting all your members and faculties. Take your everyday, ordinary life – your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life – and place it before God as an offering. Live in holiness, experiencing all that delights His heart. This offering of the whole of our lives is a worshipful act that is pleasing to God. And this becomes your genuine expression of spiritual worship.” (Romans 12:1; a weaving together of The Passion Translation, the Message, Philip’s translation, the Amplified Bible, and the New Jerusalem Bible).
Being Physical with Worship. The spiritual and the physical belong together, and are in fact inseparable. We were created as whole beings with a mysterious fusion of body and spirit and soul and body and everything else that constitutes our personhood. Not only that, the Incarnation reveals how important the body is to Creator God. In a sense, the idea, the reality, of God taking on a physical body was actually a spiritual act. We need to make sure we incarnate our worship. So worship of our Creator needs to include the body if we want to worship with our whole selves. Physical acts of worship become meaningless if it is done thoughtlessly, without its intention of worshipping God. But worship is not limited to the nonphysical, the so-called spiritual either, or one is not truly involved fully in the act of worship. As Rev. Josef Ratzinger once wrote in his excellent article, The Theology of Kneeling, “The bodily gesture itself is the bearer of the spiritual meaning, which is worship. Without the heart of worship, the bodily gesture would be meaningless, while the spiritual act itself must of its very nature express itself in the bodily gestures.” So physical gestures are invaluable in the act of worship. They can point to spiritual truths, they can stimulate worshipful acts, and they can enable a fuller expression of awe, lament, adoration and worship. Using the body helps us to put the Gospel message into motion. The movement of one’s body can be a sign that communicates a message… Do you want to signal to God that you submit to Him, that you want to confess to Him, that you adore Him, that you intend to follow Him in trust? There are gestures and postures and movements that can express what is on your heart without any use of words. Body language is vital to spiritual life and expression. In this blog series entitled “Physical Worship,” I will focus on the worshipful use of the body through such gestures and movements as: prostration before God; sitting at the feet of Jesus; standing in respect and oneness; kneeling in submission; walking in order to follow; running the good race; jumping for joy; lifting up the heart and hands; offering the kiss of peace;; and the act of crossing oneself with the sign of the Cross. This is important: Physical postures and actions during worship reflect the attitudes of the heart, but they can also help produce the attitudes of the heart.
SHALOM = The ancient Hebrew word translated as peace and means much more than absence of war: completeness or wholeness, as in the joining together of opposites; integrity, as in the effective holding together of separate pieces; to give/restore harmony; fulfillment; health; security; abundant well-being; tranquility; freedom from disquiet and disorder; reconciliation; resolution of conflict; healing of division; to flourish; prosperity. Shalom (peace) ranks the highest of all values in the Hebrew Bible, according to Jewish scholars. Shalom is the most important goal in all of life. “Rabbinic teaching describes it as the only vessel through which God’s blessings can flow into this world.” (Rabbi Arthur Green, These are the words: A Vocabulary of Jewish Spiritual Life).
The Kiss of Peace. Peace and harmony between believers, and unity in the church body, reflects the Kingdom of God, and has been God’s priority since Day One. Reconciliation between Christ-followers is even more important than celebrating Eucharist in church, which is why the Kiss of Peace has been a vital part of Christian worship services since the apostolic era in church history. This sacred Kiss, short and sincere, on the cheek between united believers who are in full fellowship is a symbol of complete reconciliation, with nothing to forgive, a clean slate between them. This holy Kiss is a physical symbol of the spiritual truth of unity between believers. Some have even called it a sacrament. However, if a Christian walks into church and realizes he needs to settle accounts with someone else in the church, he should seek him out, whether he offended the other person or the other person offended him (Matthew 5:23). This is why the Kiss of love is always placed before the Eucharist in the worship service. There needs to be union between people before there is Communion with God. There needs to be a feast of peace before there is the Lord’s Supper.
St. Paul included the Kiss of Peace, also called a Holy Kiss, four different times in his benedictions: Romans 16:16; 1 Corinthians 16:20; 2 Corinthians 13:12, and 1 Thessalonians 5:26. For him to mention this part of worship in his letters, it must have been important, and it sounds like he expected it to be done in his churches. The Kiss is called holy, because it is set apart from romantic kisses and only allowed between believers who are at peace with each other. The Kiss of Peace is dependent upon a sincere confession, a gracious forgiveness, and a heartfelt reconciliation. The love that is required in all those difficult steps comes from one Source, the love of Christ. The love seen in a Kiss of Peace is grounded on the love of Christ poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit.
Confession. “Confess your sins to each other.” (James 5:16). To Confess is to acknowledge openly; to freely admit to wrongdoing; to announce one’s guilt; to concede one’s shortcomings; to repent of sins; to agree with God that the sin is a sin; to open up and disclose; to seek forgiveness for a wrongdoing; to come clean about an offense against God or someone else. There are two Greek words in the New Testament that mean to confess: “exomologeomai“, which means to make something open, to open up, to confess, to reveal. The other Greek words is related to that word, “homologo“, which means to confess, declare, to agree, to profess.
“Confess and acknowledge how you have offended one another, and then pray for one another to be instantly restored, for tremendous power is released through the passionate heartfelt prayer of a godly believer.” (James 5:16, TPT).
Don’t keep your sins a secret. When we are hiding our wrongdoings from one another, there’s a good chance we are keeping our sin from God, and even from ourself. Confession is good for the soul, it clears the conscience and gives us peace, it strengthens our emotions, and stabilizes the mind. If our sin has harmed the community in some way, we need to consider a more public confession. If we have sinfully offended an individual, we need to seek out that person and confess privately. If we are on intimate terms with a small group and want them to support us as we seek to overcome a troublesome sin, confess to the small group. If we have a spiritual director or a deep friend who understands our life journey, confess to him/her. If we want a spiritual authority to represent us to God, and who thus will reassure us of God’s forgiveness and mercy, confess to our priest, pastor, or other minister. Confess our sins to one another, and be forgiven by the Lord of Love. “People who conceal their sins will not prosper; but if they confess and turn from them, they will receive mercy.” (Proverbs 28:13, NLT).
Forgiveness. The Greek word for forgive is “aphiemi“, which means to let go; to release; to set free; to send away; to dismiss. In Matthew 18, Jesus offers a divine tutorial on forgiveness and reconciliation, in which if you are offended by someone, go directly to that person and work it out in a spirit of forgiveness and accountability. If that didn’t bring reconciliation, bring along a couple of trusted friends to this person and try it again. If that didn’t work, go to the church and try reconciliation that way. Hopefully the offender would have sought forgiveness by then. In other words, if you are offended, don’t complain to someone else, don’t start a rumor mill, don’t just sit and stew over it, don’t nurse a grudge, and don’t seek revenge. Seek reconciliation at all costs, face-to-face, up close and personal.
And what is forgiveness, exactly? Forgiveness is a sign of mercy. I’ve heard it said that forgiveness is the process of giving up the right to punish. If someone wrongs you, to forgive that person would be to give up the right to punish that person in your heart. Forgiveness is giving up the right to hold a grudge, to keep score, to seek revenge, to stand in ultimate judgment of that person. Because of Jesus, God gave up the right to punish us. In His mercy, He forgave us. God is forgiving, and since we are made in His image, we are to be forgivers as well. Every person, no matter how depraved or guilty, has dignity and sanctity because of His image. God hates divorce, says Scripture. Which means God hates division between the people He has made. Ideally, forgiveness is a part of that process of reconciliation, which involves confession, forgiveness, accountability, and resolution. Forgiveness is one way to honor the dignity of the other person, it is one step in the healing of the inevitable woundedness between people. Forgiveness heals two hearts: the wronged and wrong-doer. The wronged will have a difficult time getting over the offense, and the wrong-doer will continue acting out of woundedness until forgiveness occurs. Forgiveness is a big part of the healing process for both parties, and unforgiveness hardens the heart of both parties. Forgiveness opens a space in each heart for the Spirit to operate. If you are wronged too deeply to forgive, only God can do the forgiving through you. Actually, God is needed throughout the whole process of forgiveness.
Reconciliation. This crucial Christian reality to seek at all times can be described as… to restore harmony and friendship; to heal over division between people; to resolve differences; to receive someone into your favor; to go from two discordant solos into a beautiful harmony; to experience true shalom in a relationship. The Greek word for reconciliation is “katallasso“, which means literally to change from one thing to another; to ‘make friendly;’ in other words, to change from an enemy to a friend. “As far as possible, if it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Do your best to live as everybody’s friend” (Romans 12:16-18).
“Forgive us, Father, for the wrongs we have done as we ourselves release forgiveness to those who have wronged us… Lay aside bitter words, temper tantrums, revenge, profanity, and insults. But instead be kind and affectionate toward one another. Has God graciously forgiven you? Then graciously forgive one another in the depths of Christ’s love… (Matt. 6:12; Ephesians 4:32).
I swore I would never put a straight-up country song on one of my articles, and this comes dangerously close. But it has a backyard bluegrass kind of sound, so I’ll call it that. Great lyrics, though.
Gordon Mote – Sweet Forgiveness [Live] – YouTube