I danced in the morning when the world was begun, And I danced in the moon and the stars and the sun, And I came down from heaven and I danced on the earth; At Bethlehem I had my birth.
Refrain Dance, then, wherever you may be; I am the Lord of the Dance, said He, And I’ll lead you all wherever you may be, And I’ll lead you all in the dance, said He.
I danced for the scribe and the Pharisee, But they would not dance and they would not follow Me; I danced for the fishermen, for James and John; They came to me and the dance went on.
Refrain
I danced on the Sabbath when I cured the lame; The holy people said it was a shame. They whipped and they stripped and they hung Me high, And they left me there on a cross to die.
Refrain
I danced on a Friday and the sky turned black; It’s hard to dance with the devil on your back. They buried My body and they thought I’d gone; But I am the dance and I still go on.
Refrain
They cut Me down and I leapt up high; I am the life that will never, never die; I’ll live in you if you’ll live in Me; I am the Lord of the Dance, said He.
Refrain
Words copied from The Presbyterian Hymnal, Hymn 302, (Westminster/John Knox Press, 1990).
I began this morning’s meditation with the hymn I Danced in the Morning. This hymn came to mind as I was reading the lectionary readings for this week. In the hymn, we are told that Jesus Christ is the Lord of the Dance, not Michael Flatley (from Riverdance and Lord of the Dance fame).
Like many hymns, this hymn tells us about the story of Jesus. The main action throughout the hymn is dancing. In the hymn, we are invited to have Christ live in us and we in him, which would allow us to dance through life with Jesus (and God) as our partner.
Our scripture readings this morning involve a lot of dancing. But the dancing in each story has it’s own objective. In our Old Testament reading (2 Samuel), David dances with joy because the Ark of the Covenant has been returned. In the reading from Mark, the daughter of Herodias dances seductively and traps King Herod in his own egotistic words because of his desires.
Most of us have had our own experiences with dancing. Some of us really like to dance while others may not enjoy it as much. Some of us might not like it at all. I took dance lessons in the sixth grade through the school system. It was fun. The biggest challenge I had was having to get over my shyness (or maybe more accurately my fear) of having to ask a girl to dance. As I got older, dancing became an issue probably because I never got over my fear of asking a girl to dance. It was easier for me to blame the dancing rather than face up to my fear. I eventually overcame that fear thanks to my wife, but it took many years before I gave up the old excuse of hating to dance (even though I loved Mary and was very comfortable in her presence).
I am obviously not a woman but you might have had some of the same fears based around dancing but only reversed. You might have had to deal with the fear of rejection, the fear of being one of the people not selected to dance. Dancing, especially when we were young, created lots of stress.
We have talked about this before: life is really all about dancing. There is a rhythm to life and when we are able to discover this rhythm we feel that we are a part of the dance of life. But some of my old fears about dancing can come up. I have been chosen by Christ to join in this dance of life, HIS dance of life. I can’t use the excuse of being afraid to seek out a dance partner because Jesus has chosen me; he has chosen each one of us, to be his partner.
I can now transfer my fear of selecting a dance partner to that of being selected. At times, I just want to be a wallflower, blending in just like I tried to do with my fellow junior high-ers during the school dances. Just try to blend in so the pressure will be off me. After all, there is security in numbers and if we all stand here there really is no pressure to go out and dance. David chose to dance. He chose not to “stand by the wall” and he chose not to fear his partner (God) but to respect him and be in a relationship with him. He was rejoicing at the presence of the Ark. He was rejoicing at being in the presence of God. David was saying, “Thanks for choosing me! I’ll dance with you!”
His behavior as a king drew a harsh response from his wife, the daughter of Saul the former king of Israel. Her reaction could have been because David’s actions were not fitting of a king or perhaps it was because the lineage of the king had been transferred to the family of David and away from the family of her father, Saul.
Sometimes we choose to dance alone, to get caught up in our egos just like King Herod. He was easily enticed by his stepdaughters dancing because he was not participating in the dance of life with God. He was dancing to his own rhythm, dancing only with himself as a partner.
Because of this, he made an extravagant promise that, although he wanted to say no, he chose to save face and that cost the life of an innocent man, John the Baptizer. Because he was dancing alone he was weak and gave in to the pressure of doing something wrong (condemning an innocent man) in order to look good to his guests.
The dance is on. Who are we going to dance with? We can choose to dance with ourselves or not dance at all. We can shy away from God’s calling and choose to stand in the background or along the wall. We can choose to dance with Christ but we can choose to dance the same old routine. It is a comfortable dance that we know by heart and one we can do with our eyes closed. We don’t have to take the time to learn any new steps, just keep dancing to the same beat.
Or we can accept the invitation of Christ to dance with him and maybe even learn a new dance step or two. Sometimes when we learn a new step we might stumble a bit as we try to get the hang of it, as we try to adjust to a newer rhythm for our lives. We might even step on some toes. Maybe we will find out one kind of dance step is not good for us even if we want to learn it real bad.
Sometimes we just have to trust God to take the lead during the dance of life. To dance with Christ means to overcome our fears and our doubts, to trust God with our strengths and even our weaknesses. To dance with Christ is to let go of our inadequacies. To dance with Christ is to accept who we are and who we are called to be.
I would like to conclude with a quote by Marianne Williamson from her book, A Return To Love: Reflections on the Principles of A Course in Miracles, Harper Collins, 1992. From Chapter 7, Section 3 (Pg. 190-191).
“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”
