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King David is dancing before the Lord, Dancing in the streets! He would have been an excellent contestant on “Dancing With the Stars” He was as big a celebrity as Emmit Smith, Dance champion of the 2006 season. David and his people are bringing the ark of God to Jerusalem. As they make their way to the city, David and all the house of Israel are dancing before the Lord with all their might, with songs and lyres and harps and tambourines and castanets and cymbals. It’s an incredibly joyful worship experience, Full of music, and shouting and enthusiastic movement. Frederick Buechner writes about it this way: “How they cut loose together! David and God were whirling around before the ark in such a passion that they caught fire from each other and blazed up in a single flame of magnificence. Not even the scolding that David got from his wife Michal afterwards could dim the glory of it." And David is not the only one who dances. The whole people of Israel do as well. They are taking their precious ark – The place that holds the tablets of commandments of God – with them to Jerusalem. They dance – In honor, in glory, in delight – For they have in their possession the word of God, The promises of God. Friends, we too, Have the word of God and the promise of God. We possess the gifts of God in our church and in our lives. Maybe we should dance! We’re not going to dance - literally, that is, unless of course, you feel so inspired by Holy Spirit! But let’s see if there are some correlations between dancing and discipleship. Let’s look at the relationship between the joyous movement of David in the text and Ruth in our sanctuary and the way we live our daily lives. Sisters and brothers, shall we dance? BREATHE Let’s begin with breathing. Breathing is an essential part of dancing. You can never make it through a performance – or in Ruth’s case today – a prayer – if you don’t know how to breathe. If you hold your breath, you’ll quickly tire out because the muscles – the ones in your arms and legs – can’t get the amount of oxygen they need. As children of God, people of faith, disciples of Jesus, We, too, need breath. We need the breath of God to fill us to do the work that God wants us to do. God’s breath is powerful and life-giving. According to the witness of Scripture, human life begins when God breathes into A’dam, the first human creature. The book of Ezekiel describes how the communal life of Israel was restored when the breath of God came into their dead bones. The book of Acts tells how the Christian church was born when the breath of God came like a mighty wind on Pentecost. We serve God well when we open ourselves to the power of the Holy Spirit. We can ask the Lord to fill us so that we will be inspired – A word that literally means “to breathe into” or to “fill with spirit.” David was breathing deeply as he danced before the Lord with all his might, and God gave him the energy to bring the ark all the way from Baale-judah to Jerusalem. When we breathe in deeply – of God’s Spirit and grace and power – We will find the energy to bring the good news to the world in myriad ways: to feed the hungry, shelter the homeless, visit the sick, and welcome the stranger. My daughters reminded me of a contemporary song by Anna Maleck that proclaims, “Breathe, just breathe.” It’s a good place to start. TAKE A RISK When I was in my early twenties, I decided that I wanted to take dance lessons. I never had the opportunity to do so as a kid, and I wanted to try something new – a new adventure. I decided to try ballet – something really different! For several weeks, We practiced the different positions – at the bar and on the floor, learning different steps along with taped music. Yes – that’s taped music – CDs and IPODS weren’t around, it was that long ago! On our last night of class, The instructor hired a pianist to accompany us, instead of the usual taped music. After a few warm up exercises, The instructor lined us all up on one side of the room. Imagine, she said, Imagine a dance in your mind. See yourself take the steps. When the pianist begins to play, Come across the floor to the other side, Dancing the steps you’ve imagined and you’ve learned. I closed my eyes and took a breath. I stretched up, And out, and leapt across the stage, and danced my best Swan Lake. When I opened my eyes, I discovered I was about half way across the floor. I turned around… And I was the only one who had moved! Sometimes living a life of faith is about taking a risk: Being willing to try something new; to imagine a different way to be the church or to share the good news. Friends, let me finish the story of my ballet class. When I noticed that no one else had moved, I slinked back to the other side. I don’t remember the rest of the class, But I do remember this: I never took another ballet class again. Being a disciple also means encouraging others or joining with them in taking a risk. It was a risk for the folks who decided to build this sanctuary 200 years ago. We took a chance and sent church members to Biloxi – Not once, but twice. We stepped forward a few weeks ago in the vote to become open and affirming congregation. All these risks were undertaken not by a single person, but by a community of people seeking to be the church. They stepped – we stepped – across the floor together and learned new steps in the dance of discipleship. EVERYONE CAN DANCE Everyone can participate in the dance of discipleship. And I mean everyone. Kathryn and I saw one of the most powerful liturgical dance troupes at Synod. They are called Dancing with Wheels, and are composed of dancers who move in wheel chairs and dancers who move with their legs and feet. Their dance was beautiful. There were three dancers for the evening worship – one woman in a wheelchair, one not, and a man using only his feet. The music began and they moved around the stage in a beautiful pattern, circling together, creating powerful images and patterns. They twirled around, Circling the stage, Hands and arms extended. The woman in the chair sometimes was assisted and pulled by the other dancers, and at other times she wheeled in the chair as part of the dance. The woman in the chair was strong, one of the strongest dancers that I’ve ever seen: broad shoulders, rounded biceps and triceps. She and the young man formed a beautiful poses, images of beauty and power. The wheel chair woman was so strong that at one point during the dance, she lifted the young man straight above her head. Everyone can dance. Everyone can be a disciple. Sometimes we hold back in our discipleship, We don’t take the first step because we think we aren’t good enough or holy enough or powerful enough or biblically literate as the next person sitting next to us. But, dear friends, God has given each of us has different strengths and gifts, for the sake of the gospel, for the sake of the world. It may not be the same gift as your neighbor next to you in the pew, or down the street, but the gift is yours and God needs it! God needs you to continue to bring about God’s kingdom in this world. What is your gift? What are you capable of doing today, tomorrow, in the days ahead that will help us to be the church of Jesus Christ in this time and in this community? FIND JOY If you read the entire story of King David in the Hebrew Bible, You will find that he has many flaws. He doesn’t always treat the people he loves – and the people God loves – very well. There are times he doesn’t possess compassion or kindness. But what David does possess iss passion, energy, and joy for life and for God. David is enthusiastic in his dancing, and generous in his sharing of a meal with God’s people. Kate Huey says that jubilation is a word we rarely use today – in our culture and in our church – perhaps because such a feeling has been limited for the most part to sports, and perhaps, the occasional political victory. But what would happen, friends, what would happen if we felt deep-down-in our hearts jubilation over what God is doing in our lives? In our church? In our world? Would we dance too? Would we rise up in joy? Should we rise up in joy? David was enthusiastic, A word that literally means “en- theos,” in God. What could we become – As persons, as a community of faith, Is we lived our lives “en-theos,” in God? Sisters and brothers, Let’s breathe and take a risk. Find our gifts and our strengths. Discover the joy and live in God. Sisters and brothers, Shall we dance? |