This October of 2016 Park Avenue Baptist Church addressed embodied theology. Embodied Theology refers to the act of living faith through action. The incarnation of Jesus Christ is in itself an expression of embodiment and shows the foundational nature of this theological concept. We must embody this faith to live it, as Christ embodied God.
Art in the Image painted during 4 weeks of this sermon series. Painting can be a type of prayer, and by nature this is a type of embodied theology. Live painting in service is a type of worship arts that many churches have begun to incorporate in Sunday services.
During the “Body Talk” series in October 2016, we asked our congregants to challenge themselves to embody their faith in many different ways. Pictured here is the alter that asks us to look deeply at ourselves, as one looks deeply at the human form in drawing the shape dolls.
Jen Lyon opened up this series preaching about accepting our bodies as God made us, despite the negative self-talk, the health problems and when we accept ourselves we allow the God that is in us to be embodied. Our congregation, as many churches, contains many people with different abilities and some have chronic illness. We seek to challenge the false narrative that says wholeness and healthfulness is a result of a faithfulness. This is a false narrative that makes people feel bad for experiencing health problems beyond our control.
These four pieces come together to form a circle. The circle is a powerful image that Park Avenue uses to illustrate inclusion and community. We say “Join the Circle,” so this piece, an example of embodied prayer made during worship, forms an inclusive symbol and picture of community.