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David Danced
Do any of you enjoy dancing? Dancing, ya know…getting your groove on.
Do you ever like to just let loose? Feel the rhythm in your bones and allow your
muscles to just move to the beat of the music? Even if you don’t consider yourself
much of dancer, you still have likely burst into a spontaneous little jig when you
were excited about something.
Now I know that not everyone may be able to dance because of various
limitations but at some point in your life you would likely have had the
opportunity to dance and who’s to say that you can’t still dance in your heart.
If I’m not mistaken, I believe some folks here actually met their spouse at
dances that were held at their local fire hall. Dances were great community
events in previous years and in some places they still are. I know that line dancing
is popular in some Maritime locations and there’s a few places around that would
likely do a Ceilidh.
Dance is a true expression of our emotions. If you look at the way dance is
done professionally, it can portray excitement, drama, fear, reverence, joy and
much more.
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Often, dancing takes the form of joy or celebration; like when we dance in
our kitchen or our living room or with friends. When we talk about dancing in the
rain it often seems like an oxymoron because most of the time we think of rain as
being a dampening of the spirit but we think of dancing as a joyful act.
The scripture you heard this morning from 2 Samuel has a few themes in it.
The most apparent of these is power. One thing that the Revised Common
Lectionary chooses to leave out of this reading are the verses where Uzzah, the
son of Abinadab, was killed because he touched the Ark. If anyone had forgotten
the power of the Ark they were clearly reminded about it through this event.
The last time we heard about the Ark in the Bible was when it was captured
by the Philistines; we read about it back in 1 Samuel 4. But the Philistines
returned the Ark back to Israel because of the Ark’s immense power. The
Philistines eventually defeat Israel and for a while the Ark is forgotten about.
But when David becomes King he wants to reintroduce the people to the
Ark so that its symbol of power and the presence of God is recognized again. So
we could focus our thoughts on another strange story in the Old Testament
where God’s power is at the forefront. We could talk about punishment.
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Punishment, power and repentance were clearly important to the writers
of the Old Testament. It was how they conveyed to their readers and listeners just
how incredible God was.
Now I’m not so sure that I believe in that God. I don’t believe in a God that
punishes people for wrong doing. It has been that long since Easter ya know.
Aren’t we supposed to be Easter people? Don't we want to celebrate the
incarnation and resurrection all year round? And the resurrection is, more than
anything else, a testament to the power of God over life and death.
David understands God’s power, but as the Ark is brought into Jerusalem
he can’t help but celebrate in God’s presence. So he dances. He dances because
God’s presence evokes joy.
This image of David dancing in front of the Ark was all I could see when
reading this passage. Dancing became the theme. Then after pondering for a
while it dawned on me…I wonder if the United Church of Canada has forgotten
how to dance. I wonder if we’ve gotten so caught up in the challenges of our
times that we’ve forgotten how to dance in celebration of our God.
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We’ve become so rigid in the church. If things aren’t done in such a specific
way then we get mad at each other. When we talk about the future of the church
we list off financial worries and physical and mental exhaustion from all the
people who give so much time and effort to their communities.
We gripe and complain and most of the time. We make decisions based on
fear and we forget to even bring God into the equation. Which I find to be quite
ironic because God is here with us through it all.
In Nehemiah we hear the words, “the joy of the Lord is your strength.”
When we break out into dance it is usually in joy. God’s goodness is where we
find the strength to continue. But if we can’t celebrate our living God then we
might as well just pack it in. We need God’s strength in order to thrive and be a
strong community.
Can you imagine simply dancing in the presence of God? We even debate
dancing in our churches sometimes and what type of music should be in worship
and is truly worshipful and what is proper worship of God. We live in our heads
so much these days.
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We comment and comment on articles on the Internet until we've
exhausted every possible angle and we aren't even civil with one another
anymore. We think through every possible situation and try to prove our
position. We do the absolute opposite of what God calls us to do because we
think that our way is the right way.
We have forgotten how to simple dance in the presence of the Lord. We
have forgotten to enjoy God’s presence and allow God’s joy to be a staple in our
individual lives and in the life of the church.
I know I can be guilty of this as well, but when I read a tribal, primal story
like this whole story of David and the ark in 2 Samuel, I remember that it's not
necessarily about understanding everything or even making sense of everything.
There’s the mystery about God that I find so fascinating.
I don’t have the answers to the questions of life. I can tell why certain
things happened in the Bible or whether some of the stories or true or not. I can’t
tell you why bad things happen to good people. I can’t tell you what happens to
us after we die…but I’m ok with all of that. Our lives are engulfed in mystery,
especially the mystery of God. All that does is intrigue me more.
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I want to know more about God. I want to experience God in my life in as
many ways as possible and I want to celebrate God’s presence.
Stories like these from the Bible, they tell us of a God like the God who
David knew....a God of mystery and delight and celebration, a God to be feared
and worshipped, a God who showed us, like a mother, rules and guidelines for
our own good on this earth.
A God who has power over life and over death. A God who calls us to obey
and calls us up from the dead, calls us to a resurrection faith, and calls us, when
we find ourselves in the presence of the mystery of our wondrous God, to dance.
That is the God that I believe in and that is the God that I believe we as a church
need to embrace. We need to dance together in God’s presence that God’s joy
may be our strength; that God’s love may be our love and that we may truly
celebrate God and each other.
Maybe if we can remember what it’s like to dance for joy then we can truly
live as resurrection people and be the disciples that God calls us to be. Amen.