ALPHA MAAMA (A.M.)

Tusite Ma’asi 28, 2023

Full-Bodied Worship  חוה

Hu kiate Ia ‘aki hoto kotoa

EXODUS 24:1

THEN HE SAID TO MOSES, "COME UP TO THE LORD, YOU AND AARON, NADAB, AND ABIHU, AND SEVENTY OF THE ELDERS OF ISRAEL, AND WORSHIP FROM AFAR."

‘EKISOTO 24:1

KA ko Mōsese na‘a ne folofola ki ai, ‘o pehē, ‘Alu hake kia Sihova, ‘a koe mo ‘Ēlone, ‘a Nātapi mo ‘Āpiu, pea mo e toko fitungofulu ‘i he mātu‘a ‘Isileli; pea te mou tu‘u mei he mama‘o, ‘o fai ho‘omou lotu:

Worship in Hebrew is not just adoration in the head or praise in the heart; it's full-bodied. To chavah is to put one's face to the ground, before either God (in worship) or people (in respect). When Abraham saw three visitors approaching, he ran to meet them and "bowed himself [chavah] to the earth" (Gen. 18:2; cf. 19:1). God tells Moses at Sinai to "chavah” from afar" (Exod. 24:1). When the Lord caused his glory to pass before Moses, he "quickly bowed his head toward the earth and chavah" (34:8). Hebrew destroys any false notion that humans are just "brains on a stick," as James K. A. Smith puts it, or souls trapped in bodies. Rather, as embodied images of God, we worship our Creator with the totality of who we are knees, arms, chest, feet, and face included.

The same physicality of worship is continued in the NT. When the Magi see Jesus, they "fell down and worshiped him" (Matt. 2:11). When praying to his Father, Jesus himself "fell on his face and prayed" (26:39). The physicality of worship is itself a confession that our bodies are the gifts of God, with which we serve, worship, and praise him.

Heavenly Father, Creator of our bodies, grant that we may worship you with all of who we are.