Unite Boston 2014

“Do you need a translator?” ”What is that echo?” ”Oh my! Everyone is praying again." "Are your arms tired? My shoulders are getting sore.” "I’m so hungry that I could have communion again.”

Church is part of life whether folks like it or not. Pause right there.

Fitness is also a part of life whether folks like it or not. Sigh.

Visiting other denominations, as a way of promoting unity among various churches in the Greater Boston Area is a sign that for a location that is supposedly ranked 98th (out of 100) parlays with the non-believers mind. It breaks barriers and builds relationships that express unity or the way God would like his soldiers or followers to behave without bias but with love, intrigue, fervor, and an open heart. God also has a lot of humor that unexpectedly sneaks up on you. Oh yes! You see if you are going to go to a different church everyday for one week, then you have to be physical able. 

 Cue the line about fitness.

There are many parallels between fitness and church, and Unite Boston hints at this parallel. Boston is a dynamic place of many aspects of health. You can call it a health mecca of the United States. It is not know as an area rich of church love even though there are so many houses of the Lord, and so many people who are all in for the Lord. You just have to be willing to meet these individuals and to experience their congregations in order to dispel the negative stereotype of a church-less Greater Boston Area. So, what is one way to engage in this dismissal? Have an active mind and body. Your spirit is the smartest of the three.

I have never witnessed a Korean gathering until I actually experienced one. No-brainer there. Hearing a service in Korean opened my mind to a different way of worship and prayer. The convenience of having a translator and headphones enriched the worship experience. As each person prayed, I was reminded about being in a group exercise class. Only this time…the instructors kept changing within the same class. The sanctuary was rightfully dark and intimate like a spin class in the evening. Everyone even expressed his or her own genre of energy expenditure. Cool, what’s the next day like?

The last time I heard some Latin in a service was in high school at Gonzaga…and in the other Catholic services I had attended. But, attending a Taize service in a preserved church in the middle of downtown Boston makes spending time in the oldest YMCA in the middle of downtown Boston a run for its sweat. Sometimes, you just enter a service and everything feels sacred. And sometimes…you enter a gym for the first time and everything feels sacred and sweaty. But, the former wins! See, there is good – everything good is God - competition in church and fitness. Boston should be immune to good competition.

After a few days of competing with everything on your schedule between getting your family organized to attend these various churches, you thank the Lord that you can actually move well. Then, He reminds you that you need to eat meals throughout the day and stretch. 

Wait, what and why?

Well, a properly nourished individual will want to eat again if they move more. Hence, one take at communion should make a budding, adventurous, and curious churchgoer hungry for more communion and the body of Christ. Right? “Be still” for one second because as you lift your arms and open your palms as a sign of receiving the Lord, your deltoids begin to develop lactic acid. Lactic acid gets the bad rep of tiring out your muscles. Instead, it truly is the beginning of muscle fatigue due to your reverence to the Lord. 

Perfect practice makes perfect. The energetic services at these Unite Boston gatherings included many prayers. Many people were blessed as a result of lifting hands high. The city of Boston, in all of its alluring health is a mustard seed for the rest of the world. Unite Boston has exercises the branches needed to spread the vine of the Lord. In its essence, Boston has some serious worshippers. A city that is among the first in health is a city that is among the first in loving the Lord and is willing to work together in order to share the word!

Peace & Blessings,
Derek Arledge