September 30th, 2020

by | Sep 30, 2020 | PS from PS | 0 comments

ps from ps… “Form is static.  Movement is fluid.” – Coach

On a run the other day, my Coach asked me to pay attention to my “movement.”  And that was a fairly new request.  Often for runners, coaches will help them pay further attention to their “run form.”  Run form is how your body moves as you are in motion.  Do your heels strike the ground first or your midfoot?  Do your knees drive forward?  Are your arms brushing by your hips and engaging your core.  Run form.  Usually at some point on a run, coaches will ask you to check in on your form.

But during this run, Coach asked me to pay attention to my movement instead of form, because for him, form sounds static.

Movement is about how our body is flowing.  And it’s about how our body adapts to the circumstances around us.  Constantly changing circumstances.  Does our stride shorten as we go uphill?  Do we lean into it a little bit more?  Do our arms drive a little bit harder as we move toward the finish line?

Movement adapts.  

I got thinking about that on the run as I started doing some church planning in my head.  Thinking about how to re-do a Confirmation celebration.  Or how best to offer Advent experiences outdoors for people who don’t feel comfortable inside yet.  The old “form” doesn’t work well anymore.  It was good and solid and successful.  But that form needs to change and adapt.  It needs to move and flow.  It needs to pivot.

I thought about the disciples following Jesus.  Every form they knew of from reading Torah and the church of the day was needing to adapt: reaching more, judging less, feeding all, and forgiving every.  And just when they thought they learned a new form, Jesus would do something new and movement was needed.

Movement adapts.

How are you doing in these Covid times as a follower of Jesus?  Still on the bike path or road or treadmill with the same run form?  Or have you started to adapt and focus on the movement of being a pivoting church and a flowing follower?  

Take time today to pay attention to your movement.

Lord, help me to focus on my movement as I follow you in these times.  Amen

Still in One Peace,
ps