The Sacred Way Analysis

Sign of the Cross and Other Bodily Prayers Before reading about this practice in The Sacred Way by Tony Jones, I had little experience with these prayers. The only bodily prayer I have ever practiced is raising hands in worship, and I did not know that this action was a prayer until I researched bodily prayers. I have gone to a catholic mass before and participated in the kneeling, standing, and sitting liturgy of the service, but I did not know why they did these practices. I have never practiced the sign of the cross in my spiritual walk until this class, the only time I saw this practice take place is when I would watch soccer on television and a few of the players would do the sign of the cross before they begin the game. The reason …show more content…
I actively performed the prayer postures every day, performing one after the other in sequence. I would lay prostrate on the ground before the Lord and tough through the cold, reminding myself how unworthy I am of God’s mercy and grace. Then I would kneel before the Lord asking for forgiveness of my sins and recognizing His authority over my life. After that, I bowed before God demonstrating my acknowledgement of His Lordship and glory, thanking Him for my very being. I then stood before the Lord portraying my knowledge of the sanctification of Christ, which allows me to become anew and worthy to have a relationship with God the Father. After this, I sat before the Lord and thanked Him for adopting me as His child. Then I looked upon heaven, which refocuses my mind to think heavenly thoughts and remain focused on the Kingdom of God. I would then stretch forth my arms in a physical representation of reaching for heaven and the desire to make the Lord’s will be done on earth as it is in heaven. To conclude, the last prayer posture I practiced was leaping for joy, which I only really did a few times, mostly because it was a little awkward for me. However, when I did practice the posture I did it with the fullness of my heart and an overwhelming joy and thanksgiving poured out of my soul to the …show more content…
These practices stood out to me as living and viable techniques to enhance my devotional time and my daily life. I want to establish these practices as routine for the rest of my life because I recognize why the church created these practices in the first place. I am not wary that these practices will make me become a traditionalist and that I will worship the practice more than the God that the practice is for. However, I am confident that the more I do these practices and humble myself to tradition, the more God can speak to my life and through my life. By doing these practices, I believe that I broke free of the modern and cookie cutter Christianity that is in America today. This experience also introduced me to Eastern Orthodox Theology and way of life and kindled my interest to find out more of Eastern Orthodox liturgy. The sign of the cross and other bodily prayers presents itself as one of the best practices to implement into one’s daily