The Things We Carry
Faith and the Allostatic Load
The human body was a map for Jesus when addressing social well-being. The eyes, ears, mouth, heart, hands and feet were all parts he gave attention to so that we could imagine our own purposeful action and perceptive communication. Later, the Apostle Paul gave new dimension to Jesus’s work when he invited his congregations to understand that they were part of a larger, mystical body -- the Body of Christ. We can build on this image of body in order to understand what’s possible for us as a congregation in the 21st century.
Our human experience is informed by sense perception that becomes part of our conscious life. Just below the surface of our consciousness, we are also informed by neuroception -- the messaging of our nervous system about danger, safety and reasonable homeostasis. At the intersection of our conscious perception and subconscious neuroception, we evaluate the world around us as familiar or novel. When we experience a lot of change, we can find that our bodies carry the stress of our circumstances. Sustained stress to our perception and neuroception is what psychologists call our allostatic load.
Ministry on Monday takes in all the information of Sundays: the prayer concerns, the feedback in Christian Formation small groups, and the energy of 8:30am and 10:30am worship services. On Mondays, we put it through the sieve of our prayerful reflection. What is the allostatic load of our congregation? Are we experiencing too much change and stress? Do we need a little bit more comfort and rest? Alternately, have we been lulled into too much of what is familiar, so that we are less alert and attentive to the world around us? Do we need a bit more novelty and innovation in our shared life? The rest of the week is all about attempting to respond to the allostatic signals registered as we gather on Sunday mornings.
The staff and I are fascinated by your allostatic register. We are inspired as you help one another carry both comfort and challenge. Perhaps from communal carrying like ours even the wider Waco world experiences relief. In all of this, we sense God hovering over and around, strengthening our awareness to this work. Here’s to the Christ who loved both our individual and social bodies. Here’s to Paul who called us to mystical communion and to our particular work in 2023 at the corner of 11th and Austin. Here’s to ministry on a Monday…
