By: Jim Taylor
Words
attached to bodies
About this time last year, when I walked our dog
along the shore of the lake below us, I frequently encountered a woman out for
an early morning swim. We sometimes had conversations, as she swam and I walked
the dog along the shore.
She seemed to know me; I
thought I should know her. But it’s surprisingly difficult, I realized, to
recognize people when only their heads are visible.
The head contains the face, the
eyes, the voice – all of which we usually consider as key indicators of
personality. We watch the eyes, we listen to the voice, we note whether the
words are accompanied by a smile or a frown.
But we’re less aware of many
other factors. The body’s shape and weight, the slope of the shoulders, the
erectness of the back, the placing of the feet. And always the hands – the way
they flutter or wave, the way fists clench or fingers point…
All these things contribute to
body language.
Talking heads
The head is only part of the body.
That’s one reason why “talking
heads” on television lack credibility. Without some sense of their whole-body
relationship to their surroundings, they become disembodied abstractions.
You can, for example, profess
solidarity with poverty-stricken families in other countries. But the real test
is how you would actually behave, sitting down for a meal in a squalid shack in
It’s easy to claim openness to
other religions. But could you worship in a mosque in
Someone sent me a story, for a
magazine I was editing at the time, about visiting the chair of their church’s
peace and justice committee. This person was totally committed to non-violence
– according to his words. But the visitor found him sitting in front of the
television screen watching wrestling. And his body language and tone of voice
were anything but non-violent.
We need to see the whole body,
not just the head.
Words and more words
It’s
one reason I believe in what Christianity calls the Incarnation. God ceased
being an abstract idea, a distant idea in the sky, and became a real human
being.
A lot of Bibles are called “Red
Letter Bibles.” They print the words of Jesus in red – as if only his teachings
mattered. But if you take away the actions that accompanied those words—the
healing, the touching, the body language—they are no more inspiring than, say,
the words of
All of us have had someone
say, in times of crisis, “If you need anything, just call me.” It’s a fine
sentiment. But it doesn’t compare to the steaming casserole brought to the
door, the tears trickling down cheeks, the ride to the doctor’s office, the night vigil by the bedside…
Words are fine. But for
the full message, we need embodied words.
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Copyright © 2007 by Jim Taylor. Non-profit use in congregations and study
groups permitted; all other rights reserved.
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