Focus: God celebrates our gifts and joys.
A few years ago, the country singer Lee Ann Womack had a smash hit with the song “I Hope You Dance (2000).” The song took on new meaning for me and my family when my parents, who were rarely overtly sentimental and NEVER country music fans, sat teenage me down with my three younger siblings and played this song for us on the stereo.
I hope you never lose your sense of wonder,
You get your fill to eat but always keep that hunger,
May you never take one single breath for granted,
God forbid love ever leave you empty handed,
I hope you still feel small when you stand beside the ocean,
Whenever one door closes I hope one more opens,
Promise me that you’ll give faith a fighting chance,
And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance.
I hope you dance... I hope you dance... 1
What did it all mean? As a kid of about 14-years-old, I am not sure I knew. Literally speaking, I guess my parents failed. At school dances, I remained a wallflower. But hearing today’s story from 2 Samuel about the return of the lost ark to Jerusalem, I think I understand better.
There’s a kids’ book out right now called Giraffes Can’t Dance. I don’t know if that’s true or not, but one thing I do know is that kings don’t dance. Outside of stately ballrooms at least. And when they do, well, look at all the trouble King Herod gets himself into in today’s Gospel lesson. But no, kings are reserved, stately, regal. They process. And yet, when the ark returns, all decorum is thrown aside. David dances. Not nakedly as we sometimes think; he’s wearing a priestly ephod; I guess there is a line—but he dances nonetheless. He moves, he jumps around, he creates a scene. He dances as if nobody is watching.
But of course they are watching. He’s the king. And we’re told that “Saul’s daughter Michal” sees him dancing and despises him. The narrator has hidden an important point from us here. Michal is not just Saul’s daughter; she is David’s wife. Have any of you wives ever been embarrassed by your husband in public? Yeah, that’s what’s going on here.
But I think the reason we’re told that she is Saul’s daughter is because she represents the old line, the old way of thinking. This is not how one should act. One should not make a scene. Be joyful if you must, but all in good order! This is the ark of covenant, where the God himself is seated, this is worship for crying out loud. People are watching! Rein it in!
…which is all a way of saying Michal if she were alive today might make a very good Episcopalian or Lutheran.
Every week we come here, and what do we think is going on? If God himself is present in the bread and the wine, in the word, here among us, do we believe it? Do we act like it? Do we dance?
Don’t worry. I’m not going to do a dance number right now, but I do sometimes wonder whether we give God reverence—which we often misconstrue as boredom (sit in place until called forward, don’t sing too loud—people might hear you) when God wants our joy.
It is a wonderful thing to be a Christian. David celebrated when the ark of the covenant came back meaning, he hoped, that God would be with him in battle. But every day of our lives, we celebrate that Christ has given his life for us, risen from the dead, called us by name, claimed us in holy baptism, forgiven our sins, fed us with his own body and blood, given us his Spirit, and is remaking the world in the image of his love. It is truly a joy to be alive—to be alive in Christ and with all of you.
Friends, this calls for dancing. Maybe not literally—although if that’s your gift, maybe. But dancing by how we live our lives. Dancing by sharing our gifts with the world. Dancing by sharing our joy with the world.
What is the worst that could happen? We might lose our veneer of respectability. People might stare or look at us like “what the heck are they doing?” But wait just a minute. Isn’t that what we want? Look around us: the “witness of respectability” really hasn’t gotten the church anywhere. From the very beginning in Acts until now, it’s always when people look from the outside and they say, “What is going on over there?” when they sneer as at Pentecost “they must be filled with new wine (Acts 2:13)!” THAT’S when we get people’s attention, that’s when we can share our joy, why this matters to us. That’s when we can take them to the best covenant: the new covenant in Christ’s blood, and we know where it’s found.
All of us have different gifts, different talents, different ways of sharing joy. Not just here in worship, but every day of our lives. When you get the choice to sit it out or dance, I hope we dance. Amen.
1 https://genius.com/Lee-ann-womack-i-hope-you-dance-lyrics, accessed July 6, 2021