En Theos
07-12-09
For all of you television and movie watchers, you may have noticed a dancing theme hitting your screens lately. Television shows such as Dancing With the Stars, and So You Think You Can Dance?, and movies such as Dance With Me, Take the Lead, and Step Up have all been wildly popular as a dance sensation sweeps the nation. Maybe the let us live vicariously through others. Maybe they are a good way to escape the difficulties of the day. Perhaps, they give us hope that we too can dance. In fact, not only do we Americans love to watch dancing, more and more Americans are hitting the dance floor. Tango, swing, and ballroom dancing have been on the rise for a decade. Studios are seeing a 30-40 percent increase in students during the past 10 years, despite the fact that dance lessons can cost up to $100 an hour. We’re not only watching dance, we’re dancing, or trying to at least.
In two of the Lectionary texts suggested for this Sunday, dancing plays a prominent role in the story. In the Gospel story from Mark, King Herod is so entertained by a dance, that John the Baptist loses his head. It must have been a spectacular dance. In the Hebrew text from Samuel we hear about David dancing in his see through linen ephod) through the streets of Jerusalem. This morning we will focus a little on King David’s leaping and dancing.
King David was a popular guy. In this morning’s story, he is a well-loved King that is bringing the coveted Ark of the Covenant back to its rightful home. He would have been the man to beat on Dancing with the stars. He reportedly had the looks, he had the way with women…except for his first wife Michal, and he had the all-important victories of war. In 2 Samuel 6, David and his people bring 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 cymbals" (v. 5). They are leaping, and pirouetting, and twisting, and whooping it up. It’s an incredibly joyful worship experience, full of music and shouting and enthusiastic movement. Not even the loathing of his wife could dim the glory of the day. (As a side note, Michal is not an evil woman. She is watching her husband, the King, dancing virtually naked in a see-through garment, through the capital city. And she absolutely hates it. It feels awkward, inappropriate, embarrassing. I’d have to agree with Michal. The thought of my husband dancing through any street wearing a linen ephod, God bless him, terrifies me. And he is not even a public figure.)
David does quite a dance before the ark. It’s nothing if not "enthusiastic". Appropriately, the original meaning of the word enthusiastic is "in God" or "en theos." He was dancing in God. Now, many of us don’t want to dance in worship. Many enjoy watching others dance….but dancing and watching others dance is quite different.
It was interesting. This year at Annual Conference, I snuck about 5 minutes late to one of our plenary sessions, and low and behold, everyone was dancing. The song, "Everybody Dance now," was playing over the sound system and young and old, dancers and not-dancers were all moving to the beat. It‘s funny though, I didn’t see the Bishop up front in his customary seat. Now that I think about it I didn’t see our Lay Leader Larry Bath either. It could have been because I was desperately seeking out my father, so I could document him dancing on video. I never did find him either. I myself, well I don’t remember dancing to the music. I’m the world’s most awkward dancer, and I was a bit horrified when a video showed up on Facebook of the whole event, and you could see me groovin’ in the background. I guess that teaches me to search after my dad for blackmail footage. I have no memory of actually dancing. How freeing and embarrassing at the same time.
So, what’s my point with all this dancing talk you ask? Our worship of God involves our minds, our hearts and our tongues, but rarely our whole bodies. Many of us are okay with that. Michal, David’s wife, would certainly approve. However, I think there’s a serious problem with this fact, and in actuality it has nothing to do with whether we actually dance in worship or not. When it comes down to it, dancing isn’t the real issue…the real issue is much deeper. The issue we face today, is a lack of enthusiasm… a lack of en theos, if you will. I think that some of us, in general, have become so concerned with feeling awkward, embarrassed and inappropriate as Christians that we have choked much of the enthusiasm out of our service to God. If we aren’t enthusiastic, we aren’t en theos, in God.
So how do we get back into God? Reconnected with God’s word for our lives? That‘s where dancing comes in really handy. An excellent start is to learn the steps to good dancing and apply them to Christian discipleship. These steps include teamwork, breathing, studying and having fun.
Step one: Teamwork. Square dancing doesn’t work with one person. Square dancing can really work only when there is teamwork; same with Ballroom dancing, the Tango, etc. The same is true of our service to God. Notice that King David didn’t perform a solo in front of the ark, but "David and all the house of Israel were dancing before the Lord" (v. 5, italics added). That’s teamwork, and it’s important to Christian service and mission, whether you’re dancing in a group, singing in a choir, building a Habitat for Humanity house or participating in a small-group Bible study. When we’re working as a team, there is less chance of awkwardness or embarrassment. We are in it together, learning it together, teaching each other, and occasionally stepping on each other’s feet. In our story from Samuel this morning, the only one who despises David is Michal — and notice that she is all alone, looking out her window, outside the circle of dancers.
Step two: Breathing. Most professional and practiced dancers will tell you that breathing is an essential part of dance. A Ballet dancer will never make it through the routine unless he or she learns how to breathe properly. Breathe, breathe, breathe. Holding our breath or even taking shallow breaths deprive our muscles and organs the oxygen they need. That includes not only your arms and legs, but your brain and your heart. As Christians, we need to take in deep breaths, not only in the physical sense, but also in a spiritual sense. We need to draw in deep breaths of God’s Holy Spirit if we are going to be able to effectively do the work God calls on us for. Otherwise our spirit is deprived of the oxygen and love and guidance, and acceptance and forgiveness it needs to connect.). Breathing life into humanity was the first thing God did for us. Breathing is important. We cannot serve God well unless we open ourselves to the Holy Spirit and breathe deeply in prayer. It is only when we ask for the Lord to fill us that we will be inspired — a word that means "to breathe into" or "fill with spirit." David was breathing deeply as he "danced before the Lord with all his might" (v. 14), and God gave him the energy to bring the ark all the way from Baale-judah to Jerusalem.
Step three: Studying or practicing. You may have studied or practiced enough dance in your life to distinguish between a good dance and a bad dance. Now I don’t watch a lot of television, but I was over at a friend’s house and she had on the show "So You Think You Can Dance?" I’m not a dancer, and every single audition looked incredible to me! I was shocked by some of the details the judges pointed out. But what do I know? I’ve never studied the complexities of dance.
The gospel story that I did not read to you this morning, is about King Herod and John the Baptist. In the story a certain dance was used not to praise God, but to manipulate King Herod, and it ultimately lead to the death of John the Baptist. Study of Scripture reveals that dance is good if it’s truly enthusiastic, truly "in God." Our Lord certainly wants us to feel passion, as David did, and to be willing to "lose it" in joyful praise and thanksgiving. But we are to also use dance in appropriate ways, not as a tool of manipulation, but a means of expression. The critical choice is to keep God at the center of whatever we say, think, do and feel.
Finally, we must have fun. You cannot dance well unless you’re willing to cut loose and have some fun, and the same is true in lives of Christian discipleship. God knows that Christian discipleship….heck life in the 21st century can be difficult. We must be willing and able to have some fun. As people grounded in God and Christ we don’t have to worry about being superhuman and saving this world all by our lonesome. We have a savior for that. We have a community of people working alongside of us trying to make this world a better place.
So cut loose. Everybody dance now. Share the love. Feel the joy. Work together. Breathe deeply. Study faithfully. Have fun! Combine these steps and we will be able to serve the Lord with the enthusiasm of King David. We will be en theos. Thanks be to God. Amen.
Melissa