Dancing and Dying

Scriptures:  2 Samuel 6:1-19,  Amos 7:7-15, Ephesians 1:3-14        Mark 6:14-29

A few weeks ago, Michael W. and I went with the group Philadelphians Organized to Witness, Empower, and Rebuild (http://www.powerphiladelphia.org/) on a bus trip to Harrisburg to advocate for increased funding for Philadelphia schools.  Those who went were given yellow t-shirts for the occasion.  I was focused on the event – on the bus ride to Harrisburg, on the rally at a nearby Methodist church beforehand, on the rally and interfaith service on the steps of the state capitol.  It was only near the end of the day that somebody pointed out that – oops – I’d been wearing that yellow t-shirt backwards the whole day.  Yeah, that’s how I roll sometimes.  I’d put it on early in the morning before I was fully awake, didn’t pay attention to where the label was, and just went about the day’s events oblivious to my minor fashion faux pas, until someone pointed it out – after, of course, I’d going about all day with the shirt on backwards.

What a strange collections of Scripture readings this morning – King David dancing before the Lord, the prophet Amos being given the boot from Bethel, Israel’s primary worship center, and John the Baptist being executed by Herod – along with a reading from Paul’s letter to the Ephesians that doesn’t seem to connect to any of the other readings.  But I think all of these readings have something in common – they give us portraits of servants of God who are so caught up in what God has called them to do, that they lose all concern for themselves – their respectability, their safety, even their lives.

I want to fill in a little background on that Old Testament reading.  Some of us, of a certain age, may remember the ABBA song “Dancing Queen” “you can dance, you can jive, having the time of your life…..”, but our reading from 2 Samuel gives us a portrait of David as a Dancing King.  We normally think of royalty as being stuffy, stuck on their own dignity….think of Queen Elizabeth; about the only movement we associate with her is her little queen wave.  But King David was cutting loose; indeed, making a spectacle of himself, as his wife Michal – Saul’s daughter  - told him.   

It wasn’t something David had planned – he just got caught up in the moment.  The story follows on the very sad reading from 2 Samuel from a few weeks ago, in which Saul and Jonathan were killed in battle with the Philistines, and the Philistines had captured the ark of the Lord.  In today’s reading, the ark has been recaptured, and is being brought to Jerusalem, the city that David has designated as capitol of Judah.  He actually tried to bring up the ark to Jerusalem once before, but the ark was being jostled as it was carried, and a man named Uzzah tried to steady the ark, and for his concern was struck dead – and the whole procession came to a halt.  Three months later, David tried again, and this time was successful – and for David and those with him, the reality of having the ark – representing God’s presence – in their midst, right with them where they were, filled them with such overwhelming joy that King David just cut loose, not caring what people thought.

How do we experience God’s presence?  What does it feel like?  Christians around the world, in our various denominations, respond to God’s presence in so many ways.  In many churches, certainly German-based churches in which I and many of us grew up, God’s presence inspires awed but attentive silence.  We respond in the service at the appropriate places, sing enthusiastically, but in many places are silent, lest we miss a word from the Lord.  In other churches, God’s presence is experienced very differently – with swaying back and forth, with shouting, with the sermon consisting of an ongoing call and response between preacher and congregation, as the preacher says something and the congregation says “Amen! That’s right! Preach it!”  Or if the preacher is struggling, folks in the congregation might shout “Help him, Lord!”  I’ve visited churches where folks speak in tongues and dance in the aisles, and in one service I even saw people pass out and fall backwards during the service, as people came up behind them with a sheet to catch them.  And what a feelings of trust folks in that congregation must have to know that if they pass out, there will be someone there to catch them.  I say all this just as a way to give us, German as we are, a little more space to respond in worship as the spirit leads us.

That said, I have to say, just from me, I’m not a person that gets caught up in emotion very much….my feelings are pretty flat most of the time.  And that’s ok – while I sometimes wish I could be like the folks who shout and dance and fall out in worship, that’s just not how I’m put together – and we’re saved by faith, and not by feelings. 

But even if, like me, we’re not very emotionally expressive, we can get caught up in God’s purpose for us just the same.  We aren’t told whether the prophet Amos or whether John the Baptist ever danced before the Lord. We are told, though, that they got so caught up in their call from God that they proclaimed the message God had given them, even when it cost them unpopularity and brought on threats, as happened to Amos, and even when it costs them their lives, as happened to John the Baptist.   I’m pretty sure Amos wasn’t trying to get chased away from the king’s sanctuary in  Bethel.  Nor do I think John the Baptist had any intention of winding up with his head on a platter.  You see, what Amos and John the Baptist did wasn’t about Amos and John the Baptist.  It was about being faithful to God, totally devoted to God, and letting the chips fall where they may.  They didn’t go about their ministries second guessing themselves, “oh, if I say that, I might offend someone”.  They just proclaimed what  God had put on their hearts – just let it all hang out for everyone to see.

I’m reminded of a quote attributed to the radical anarchist Emma Goldman, who said, “If I can’t dance, I don’t want to be a part of your revolution.”  Or, to quote an early Christian theologian, Irenaeus, “The glory of God is man fully alive.”  Our word “enthusiasm” comes from words meaning en – in – and theos – God.  So may God grant us that holy enthusiasm that comes from living according to God’s call for us. May God’s spirit make us fully alive, as a foretaste to that day of which St. Paul spoke, when we, along with all things in heaven and in earth, will be gathered up in Christ.  Amen.