“Body” Ministries, founded in Texas in 1980, expresses a holistic vision of human life that includes “Body, Mind, and Spirit.” Each of these human needs must be nourished so that the entire Person functions with health, knowledge, and purpose. To neglect any one of these vital areas robs people of their human potential in the future Omega Point toward which the universe emerges.
Yet, the 21st Century suffers from two extremes. On one end of the spectrum are ascetics who deny the value of the body, regarding it as a corrupted vessel. They long for the flesh to burn away so that the light of the spirit replaces it totally. These are the modern Gnostics who deny the goodness of the physical creation.
On the other end of the spectrum are those who “glory in the flesh” much like the ancient Greeks for whom the form of the body was too often an end in itself. For these hedonists, life centers on perfecting the flesh through diet, exercise, meds, and the surgeon’s knife. From great athletic specimens to runway models, the essence of life is found in the power of the flesh.
The mission of Body Ministries is to balance these two extremes by demonstrating that the body is the temple in which true spirituality arises and develops. The body and the spirit interface so as to produce the spiritual qualities which can transform the person and the world. Body Ministries seeks to nurture body and spirit so that the character of the soul is enriched. Without the body, the spirit cannot express itself in space and time. Without the spirit, the body is an empty shell. Together they interface for either good or evil.
Since most people are broken and fragmented, disunited in body and spirit and soul, Body Ministries seeks to put them back together again. Body Ministries has found the body must be the locus of the focus for this work.
And where does the body experience the conditions that allow it to unify with the spirit and improve the soul? Body Ministries has found that the arena of sports provides the best opportunity for transforming people with this message of wholeness.
Our ministry uses sports is to create conditions where spiritual formation can occur under the guidance of rules and the codes of honor exemplified by qualified leaders. These conditions are conditions of “play” in which the person is “re-created” by bringing the body and the spirit into a symphonic relationship that, in time, ennobles the soul.
In plain terms, Body Ministries helps people become whole by using sports as the transforming vehicle. By providing sporting events, Body Ministries enables players to improve their character and relate to others in an honorable and just way. The playing of sports becomes the avenue returning humanity to the Garden of Eden.
But, not all sports are created equal. Not all sports serve all people. Body Ministries perceives that most sports favor one type of person over another. Basketball favors the tall. Football the strong. Baseball, the quick. The challenge has been to find a sport that all humans can play without prejudice or bias based on size and strength and “athletic prowess.”
A type of sport was needed that all could play with all, rather than dozens of different sports among which the players would be fragmented each according to his or her “prowess.” A sport was needed where the participants were not chosen due to their “power,” but were included due to their lack of power, were included simply because they are people, souls in need of spiritual formation. In this way, the sport would choose all people as players, rather than the strong players choosing their best sport.
Once this kind of sport was found, all people would be invited to play. No one would be denied due to lack of power. Once included, the playing of the sport itself would reveal to this mass of humanity the ones called to express the sport’s highest potential. Each would be given a fair chance to develop skills over time and arise to higher and higher levels of excellence. The sport itself would mould them and fashion them in the image it wanted as it revealed its higher and higher degrees of perfectibility. Yes, all start out with similar opportunity for excellence, but in time some would express it more perfectly than others.
But, in this process of developing skills to play at higher and higher levels, each player would learn to excel in other areas than simply “skill sets.” Along the way, the character of each participant would be tested, developed, and nurtured in the experience of playing the sport. Codes of honor and chivalry would form the players into better human beings. In this way, their bodies would become the vehicle where their spirits would shine through the flesh brighter and brighter. This sport would be the Source for the development of their humanity and thus enrich and enhance and ennoble their souls.
Body Ministries experimented with many games and sports in an effort to find one that all people could play. One that all people would enjoy. One that would allow all ages to compete without discrimination based on race, gender, preferences or religion. Both outdoor and indoor sports were evaluated. It became clear that for our purposes the sport would need to be an indoor one where players of all ages could gather around safely as a diverse community of equals.
Table tennis, shuffleboard, billiards, table soccer and air hockey appeared as good candidates. Each of them involved physical movement and involved at lease two players. Unlike modern video games, the players had to interact with one another all the time and physically.
Every one smiles when they recall playing tables sports like ping pong and air hockey with their friends and families. Everyone recalls playing for fun with mother, father, brother, sister, friend and stranger alike. Generations have bonded over these encounters. Such great table sports serve as the vehicle for people of all ages and nationalities and religions to experience the joy of developing both body and spirit, and thus ennoble their souls.
While our ministry uses all types of sports to help people, especially our youth, to build character and to learn to work with others, we have discovered that indoor activities around table sports is a wonderful medium to reach people of all ages and sizes and abilities. Gathering around a table to play a sport is a community experience that brings people together even while competing.
From this encounter, people begin the stimulating journey of knowing one another and knowing themselves better and better. With the guidance provided by our mentors, their spiritual growth is enhanced and character develops.