Text: 2 Samuel 6:14-22<\/p>\n
There was a stately, beautiful church on the corner of Main and Broad streets. The members were known for their love and care for one another.
\nOn Easter Sunday, the pews were full of folks in their Sunday best, smiling graciously to one another and all of the guests who were among them. Everything was perfect.
\nWorship had begun, when all of a sudden a scruffy man in a faded shirt walked in. His jeans had holes in them and his sneakers were tattered. He looked around for a seat, but they were all taken.
\nEvery eye followed him as he walked all the way to the front of the church, still looking for a place to sit.
\nReaching the first pew and not finding a spot\u2026 or anyone who would make room, he sat down cross legged in the aisle.<\/p>\n
Everybody was wondering who this was, but even more than that, they were wondering who was going to do something about it.
\nThe organist began to play the opening hymn, but nobody was really listening.
\nThen, Mr. Sims, a stately older gentleman who had served as an usher for more than half a century, made his way from the back of the church down the aisle.
\nSomebody had to do something, after all.
\nEveryone watched as the old man bent down and said: \u201cI just want to say how good it is to have you here.\u201d
\nAnd Mr. Sims slowly lowered himself with great difficulty and sat down by the young visitor. He handed him a bulletin, and offered to share his hymnal.
\nThey sat and worshiped together.<\/p>\n
What does it really mean to fully worship God?
\nWhat does it mean to join in the dance of faith?
\nIt is not about comfort or safety or the clothes you are wearing.
\nWorship is a risk.
\nIt is a personal and corporate encounter with the divine and we are not in charge.
\nWhen we really place our lives before this God, we will not be the same.<\/p>\n
Think of those two men in the story. Both took a risk in the presence of God.
\nThe young man was a stranger, coming in off the street, and while everyone was dressed in their Sunday finest, he didn\u2019t care what others thought.
\nHe didn\u2019t care if everyone else was watching.
\nHe was coming to the Lord \u2013 and nothing was going to stop him.
\nThe older gentleman had just as much, if not more to lose.
\nHe was established and respected.
\nEveryone in that church expected him to ask the young man to move.
\nBut Mr. Sims broke with convention and let the Spirit guide him to the front of the church to sit down with that young man.<\/p>\n
In 1987, Susanna Clark and Richard Leigh\u2019s song, \u201cCome from the Heart,\u201d included the lines \u2013<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019ve got to sing like you don\u2019t need the money
\nLove like you\u2019ll never get hurt
\nYou\u2019ve got to dance like nobody\u2019s watchin\u2019
\nIt\u2019s gotta come from the heart if you want it to work.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\nThe young man and Mr. Sims joined in the dance of faith and didn\u2019t care if anyone was watching. They just put their heart into it.
\nAnd in our reading from 2 Samuel, David embraces that same heartfelt abandon leading the ark of the covenant to Jerusalem.
\nLet\u2019s explore for moment the risk of this moment of worship and the courage it took for David to truly dance.
\nFor years, the ark has been in the hands of the Philistines.
\nDavid wants to show that his rule is connected to the lordship, power, and presence of God so he has decided to go and recapture the ark and bring it to Jerusalem.
\nHe gathers thirty thousand of his best men and they go and capture the ark from their enemies.
\nYou might expect a solemn and formal military processional bringing this prized possession back to the Israelites. But King David led a celebration march and they praised God with all of their might with songs and instruments and drums.
\nIn fact, the people were so caught up in their celebration an accident occurred.
\nPassing over rough terrain, one of the oxen stumbled and the ark nearly fell to the ground.
\nBut a man named Uzzah instinctively reached out to grab onto the ark and lift it to safety.
\nWhew, we might think to ourselves\u2026 disaster averted.<\/p>\nBut just the encounter Isaiah had in the temple which we discussed a few weeks ago, this moment reminds us of the holy, other, awesome power of God.
\nThis ark was not a box holding some important documents \u2013 it was a sacred object that could bring both blessing and harm.
\nIt was to be touched and handled only by those who had properly prepared, only by the Levites.
\nThe young man was immediately struck dead.<\/p>\nIn the middle of the road, in the middle of their journey, all of the celebrations stop.
\nDavid is so troubled by these occurrences, so angry at God for what has happened, he refuses to carry the ark the rest of the way to Jerusalem.
\nHe is afraid of what will happen when God\u2019s presence comes into his royal city.
\nYou see, David isn\u2019t perfect. He knows about the sin of his own life and fears for how God\u2019s holy presence might alter the course of his reign.
\nSo instead, he puts the ark in the safekeeping of a family in a village nearby.<\/p>\nDavid\u2019s heartfelt abandon is closed off because of the fear of being burned, of being rejected, or being found unworthy.<\/p>\n
Can you imagine how the story of our faith might have gone had Jesus been afraid to dance?
\nSydney Carter\u2019s famous hymn tells the story of Jesus Christ, without ever using his name.
\nThe dance of creation and his birth in Bethlehem\u2026
\nThe call for Pharisees and fishermen to follow\u2026 and the refusal of many to join.
\nThe holy people shame him for his acts of love and power.
\nHe is arrested, abused, and killed\u2026
\nAnd yet, not once did the dance stop.
\nAnd never has the Lord of the Dance stopped inviting us to join in.<\/p>\nThere are a lot of people in this world\u2026 probably even here in this room\u2026 whose hearts are closed off.
\nPeople afraid to let God in.
\nPeople afraid to make a fool of themselves for God because of what others might think.
\nPeople ashamed of their past and whether they will be welcomed.
\nPeople who aren\u2019t quite sure they can celebrate with all of their might before God.
\nKate Huey writes,<\/p>\n\u201cJubilation is a word we rarely use, perhaps because such a feeling has been limited for many, for the most part, to sports and, perhaps, the occasional political victory. But what if we felt deep-down-in-our-hearts jubilation over what God is doing in our lives? Would we dance, too?\u201d
\nHenry Brinton has compared worship\u2026 to a modern dance solo by Paul Taylor, the dancer\/choreographer who \u201csimply stood motionless on stage for four minutes\u2026.The dancing we do in church tends to be quite similar to Paul Taylor\u2019s solo. What we do is nothing \u2013 we just stand still, hardly moving a muscle. Our worship of God involves our minds\u2026 our tongues, but rarely our whole bodies.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\nWhat would it take to get our bodies more involved in worship?
\nWhat would give us the courage to let go and let the dance carry us along?
\nMaybe, we need to give up control.
\nMaybe we need to let the rhythm of the song shape and move us.
\nMaybe we need to let Christ lead.<\/p>\nIn the book, The Soul of Tomorrow\u2019s Church, Kent Ira Groff advocates for including rhythm instruments in every worship service. He notes composer Brian Wren\u2019s understanding that \u201crhythm tries to move you bodily.\u201d
\nNo wonder that from forever and everywhere the drum has been an instrument of healing, reminiscent of the heartbeat of God \u2013 use in primal caves, rock bands, sophisticated symphonies. The pipe organ is a wonderful instrument\u2026 but in combining many instruments in one, it decreased the participation of the many\u2026
\nLet me say that again\u2026 when we combined many instruments into one, we decreased the participation of the many.
\nYou see, when we clap our hands, or tap our toes, or play along on other instruments, or use our own instrument, our voice, we are joining in the dance.
\nWe are taking a risk.
\nWe are offering ourselves.
\nWe are participating is something bigger than ourselves.
\nWe join the rest of creation and cry out with our whole being \u2013 the Lord is Good.<\/p>\nYou\u2019ve got to sing like you don\u2019t need the money
\nLove like you\u2019ll never get hurt
\nYou\u2019ve got to dance like nobody\u2019s watchin\u2019
\nIt\u2019s gotta come from the heart if you want it to work.<\/p><\/blockquote>\nJust like we might be afraid to step beyond our comfort zones and truly praise God with our whole bodies\u2026
\njust like we might be afraid to truly welcome into our midst those who don\u2019t look anything like us\u2026
\njust like we might be afraid of what will happen if we open ourselves up to God\u2019s presence\u2026
\nKing David was afraid of what it meant to invite God into his city. He was afraid of what might happen to himself and his reign.
\nIn many ways, he had a healthy understanding of the holy power and otherness of the Lord\u2026 but he let his fear overwhelm his ability to truly trust God.<\/p>\nBut then he decided to try again. He worked up the courage to let God lead.
\nThey took the ark out of the house and had moved just six steps down the road when David was so overwhelmed with joy and thanksgiving\u2026 with jubilation!… that he sacrificed a bull and a calf in praise to God.
\nAnd he took off his royal garments and there in front of all the people he danced before God with all of his might.
\nHe shed his fear, he shed all of the expectations people had of him, he shed his denial of God\u2019s holiness, and he worshiped and praised with heartfelt abandon.<\/p>\nAs the dancing proceeded back to Jerusalem and as they got close to the city gates, David\u2019s wife Michal saw him out there.
\nShe saw him without his royal robes, dancing among the commoners.
\nShe saw him making a fool of himself, rather than maintaining his composure.
\nAnd then, she confronted him about it.
\nBut David replied, \u201cI was celebrating before the Lord, who chose me\u2026 and I will celebrate before the Lord again! I may humiliate myself even more, and I may be humbled in my own eyes.\u201d
\nHe spoke with that same spirit Paul did when he said that we should be fools for Christ \u2013 laying it all out on the line to praise and honor the God who gives us life.
\nMichal, the scribes, the Pharisees, those people in the pews on Easter morning\u2026 they could get so caught up in tradition, on what was supposed to happen, in what was appropriate or required\u2026
\nBut as Jesus reminds us over and over again in the gospels, outward trappings are not important.
\nThey don\u2019t make us righteous or unrighteous, worthy or unworthy.
\nIt is our hearts that matter.
\nWhat we give to God that matters.
\nWhether we leave behind ourselves and join in the dance.
\nSo friends, wherever you are, whoever you are, let\u2019s dance.
\nAmen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Text: 2 Samuel 6:14-22 There was a stately, beautiful church on the corner of Main and Broad streets. The members were known for their love and care for one another. On Easter Sunday, the pews were full of folks in their Sunday best, smiling graciously to one another and all of the guests who were…<\/span><\/p>\n