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EVERY STEP A PRAYER

Everyone was in a good mood at the August church council meeting. Jenni reported on the successful Fourth of July walkathon that had raised funds for Habitat for Humanity. Mike announced that he would coordinate the annual CROP Walk for Hunger. Betsy expressed excitement about the church’s participation in the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life. The church’s team had already exceeded the fund-raising goal.

LaToya commented that she and her friends go to a shopping mall and walk its hallways. Luis remarked that he too had been walking. He had marched at the state capitol to protest cuts in the social services budget. Claude added that his son and daughter-in-law were doing a lot more walking. Clogged expressways and bumper-to-bumper traffic had left them too exhausted to enjoy their suburban home. So they had sold it and moved back into the city. Now they walk to work and to go shopping.

Joy jokingly suggested that our church council might like to adopt her boss’s latest approach for staff meetings. Since walking increases people’s creativity, they now walk around the building for Monday staff meetings.

As I listened to everyone’s comments, I began to think of all the people in my congregation who were taking to their feet. Marta has a new dog and gets up to walk her puppy. Kate and Jack recently joined our congregation because their home is within walking distance of the church. Committed environmentalists, they walk as much as possible to reduce their carbon footprint. Each summer Candace walks sections of the Appalachian Trail with her friends. Several members drive to a wellness center, have their vital signs checked, and walk a treadmill under a nurse’s supervision. Max coordinates a senior high adventure camp that features hiking in Colorado during July.

Despite our North American romance with automobiles, walking is making a comeback. Six in ten Americans report that they walked for fun, transportation, or exercise. More than 145 million Americans say they walk for health. In the last five years, the number of people who walk for exercise has increased by 6 percent.

Walking also plays a role in funding many national and local charities. American charities and congregations annually sponsor almost 40,000 fund-raising walk/run/rideathons that attract millions of participants. In recent years the top thirty such events raised a total of $1.6 billion. Members of my congregation walk or run in charity fund-raisers every year.

Americans also walk in protests, parades, or marches that seek to shape public opinion, influence the political process, or celebrate their heritage or identity. The National Park Service annually issues approximately 3,800 permits for marches on Washington DC’s National Mall.

I am an avid walker. Walking trails lace the woods surrounding my family’s home, and every morning and evening I walk our family dog, Spenser, along them. On vacation, my favorite activity comes in walking through urban and rural landscapes, taking in the sights, sounds, and smells. Some of my favorite childhood memories include walks with my grandfather to hunt for mushrooms or to dig sassafras roots for tea.

Until that August church council meeting, however, I had never considered all the opportunities for walking that our congregation’s ministries build in. Nor had I realized the extent to which members integrated walking into their daily routines.

Beneath our society’s renewed interest in walking lies a yearning to slow down in a 24/7 world; to reconnect to the natural world in a crowded, technological society; and to express our protest in a political climate where many people feel they have a vote but not a voice. This deep yearning intersects with the spiritual resources of our Christian faith, which has always understood walking as a means to and an expression of prayer. As we rediscover how every step can be a prayer, we walk a well-marked path traveled by our Christian forebears who understood that walking—like many other simple, everyday gestures—can be a spiritual discipline and an act of prayer.

The following chapters invite us to explore walking as a discipline that can inform our spiritual life. They examine how taking to our feet in worship reminds us that walking is a Christian spiritual practice that can deepen our awareness of God’s Spirit in our lives. They discuss the anatomy and physiology of walking and how the movement of our feet influences the movement of our mind, our hearts, and our breathing, all of which shape our receptivity to God’s Spirit in us and our world.

We seldom walk alone. Even when we are solitary walkers, we walk roads and paths that others have traveled before us and that still hold the memory and imprint of their presence. In the same way, we as Christians are never alone but are always surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses, the communion of saints, who support us as we run the race set before us in our own lifetimes.

Finally, our feet typically lead us both across our doorsteps into the world and then guide us back home. In the same way, walking as a spiritual practice directs us to our ultimate home-coming in God’s love and grace.

The book of Genesis tells us that from the very beginning, God wanted us as faithful walking partners. (See Genesis 3:8.) The Bible’s poets and prophets continually invite us to return to the God who requires that we do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly alongside our divine companion. (Read Micah 6:8.) By entering into these pages we respond to the invitation to discover how walking as a spiritual practice can lead us along the paths of righteousness, guide us to still waters, and restore our souls. (See Psalm 23.)

At the end of each chapter you will find questions and activities for further reflection. Each chapter includes a specific exercise or exercises designed to help you walk prayerfully. I typically walk on a sidewalk or in a natural area. In times of inclement weather, I walk on a treadmill. You may adapt these exercises to whatever setting is available and comfortable to you.

You may use these activities and questions to guide your personal reflection. If you are reading this book with others, discuss the questions and your experience of the activities together when you meet. As the basis for a small-group experience, you will want to include a feedback or debriefing time that allows everyone to share their responses to the suggested walking activity.

I encourage you to create a special “walking journal” to keep track of your observations, questions, and insights. Use your journal to record what days you walked, where you walked, how long you walked, and how far you walked. If you have set walking goals, these records can help you measure your progress. One worthwhile goal would be to work toward walking ten thousand steps daily. Start where you are, and add more steps each day.