Gestures and Movements 

When we pray we offer our whole self to God: we pray from our hearts and we often express our prayer through our bodies. We pray with words or in silence and also with body language—facial expression and movement. It’s powerful and almost instinctive. One gesture is often worth a thousand words! It can express attitude and state of mind, and when it accompanies words, can point up their deeper meaning to us.

During a service, at different times we stand, sit and kneel. In ancient times kneeling was a sign of respect shown by subjects in the presence of their lord and king. It still is! So, we saw David Jason kneel in front of the Queen to receive his knighthood. In the Old and New Testaments, it was a practice to kneel in adoration of God. Solomon knelt when the Temple was dedicated. Christ knelt in the Garden of Gethsemane. Through the centuries, there have been different postures for prayer - kneeling or standing - as a mark of respect or adoration. Kneeling is particularly a sign of penance - so some kneel for the confession. If you go to a priest for sacramental confession, you often kneel. We stand to listen to the gospel. Unlike the other readings that we sit and listen to, in the gospel Jesus himself speaks - so standing is a sign of reverence. Practice differs from church to church, and between different denominations and even within a church, depending on our own church background and upbringing.

Why do we bow (nod), or bow (from waist) or maybe genuflect (bow the knee)? Again, it’s a sign of respect, as in ordinary life. In a courtroom, officials bow their head to the judge. People introduced to the Queen, bow or curtsey. St. Paul’s letter to the Philippians reads: ‘Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth.’ Again, practice varies. It is traditional to turn to the Altar and bow the head as you pass in front of it. Some people bow at certain points during the Communion service, when the name of Jesus is mentioned. Genuflection is for the most solemn times. So going down on one knee is reserved for the most solemn part of the Communion Service, during the Eucharistic prayer.

Let’s think what we do with our hands. We’re often taught to pray, putting our hands together. This usually means that we stop what we’re doing and give our hands a rest, a ‘holiday’. Some people think that the fingers are pointing to heaven. But in public worship, priests separate their hands and extend them, holding them up to God. This is a much older way of praying and there are pictures of early Christians in the catacombs, praying like this. When thousands of Eastern Christians went over to Islam, they took this gesture of prayer with them, and you will see Muslims praying today with extended hands. It also means that we have let things go and are holding up empty hands to God when we pray.

Some people make the sign of the cross. It reminds us of what Christ did for us on the cross, and that what he did, he did for us personally. We often make the sign of the cross to accompany another prayer, for example when we say ‘In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit’. The three points of the cross remind us of the Trinity.

There are two other ways in which we use our hands. We lay one hand over the other to receive communion. This is a very ancient gesture. One hand is the base of the throne, and the other is the seat: a throne to receive the body of Christ. At the peace, we offer each other a greeting, a sign of peace. It was originally a kiss and was known as the ‘Kiss of peace’. It’s been modified to either be a handshake, or enclosing your hands within those of another person. As we do this we say ‘The peace of the Lord be always with you’, or ‘The peace of the Lord’, or ‘Peace be with you’.

So, gestures and movements: signs of prayer, penitence, reverence, respect, love, openness, greeting, commitment and praise – all things to think about and perhaps try out for yourself.

Rev. Jane Fox

(Thanks to Jane for permission to use her article)