“Never Alone”
If I were to add a Sub-title to this sermon, I would also call it: Dare to Dance!
Prayer of Illumination-- Silence all voices but thine own.
Let us hear your Word for us today: Amen.
They cut me down, and I leapt up high! I am the Life that will never, never die. I’ll live in you if you’ll live in me. I am the Lord of the Dance said he!
Dance then… wherever you may be.. I am the Lord of the Dance, said He. And I’ll lead you all wherever you may be, and I’ll lead you all in the dance said he.
From Michael Jackson’s “Moonwalk,” Classical Ballet, to square-dancing (which I actually got to learn in gym class of all places), the Macarena, DDR, and Step dance, we Americans are a people who enjoy dancing. Now, after hearing our Scriptures read this morning--- Psalms 23—which has a special place in the heart of many of our congregation members as the beloved Scripture of our member Ruthie Pond, who recently passed--- and John 14—( ….) you might be scratching your heads and wondering, rightly: What in the world do these scriptures have to say about Dance?…
And to top this all off, what do these Scriptures and DANCING then have to say about our featured stain glass window for today? For as some of you know, our sermon series the past number of weeks has focused on the church’s stain glass windows. Today, we will focus on this window
As I speak to you today, be challenged to hear what Word the Lord of the Dance would give you- not some other day—but this day.
I invite you all to contemplate and pray with me on this theme:
Even when life feels odd--- remember you’re loved by a Dancing God.
In other words, when we’re walking through the valley of the shadows, remember that our Triune God has our back; just as in the dance of love we see displayed in the Trinity relationship between God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit—so the Holy Spirit will come and stir a dance in our hearts--- a dance of the soul, a dance of life—and for this reason, no matter the challenges, let us be bold--- Because God will never leave us alone. We will never be orphaned. Hence, if we live in God, God will live with us—just as the song I sang in opening expressed.
Well, I am a sucker for stories… and our stain glass window for today has a very interesting one. It was created in the memory of a woman named Sarah Hastings by her son. Doing research on this window, one uncovers these words, describing the life-filled spirit of this woman, Mrs. Hastings. She is described as:
“A moving spirit in the Church, a very intelligent and capable woman, who gave considerable financial assistance. One of the earliest members, connected from the start.”
Perhaps this phrase depicting Mrs. Hastings as a “moving spirit” strikes us— We imagine her fluttering through the congregation, like some kind of Energizer Bunny of skill and intelligence. And her memory causes us to imagine the beginnings of our church and the founding of any church community—The hope. The power. The passion. The possibility—all enmeshed and wrapped up in one little community’s devotion and faith in their living God.
The window offers another significant image. It depicts the human SOUL as the young woman we see in the frame--- hand-in-hand with Christ. Yes, the woman pictured in the window with Jesus is not Mary Magdalene or another female… but the woman represents the “human soul.”
The depiction of the soul as a woman might shock us at first—perhaps even particularly at the time when the window was first created. Perhaps, for some of us, it makes sense. But beyond the gender-element of the illustration, I want you to pay close attention to the illustration itself:
Here, the soul is depicted as being deeply CLOSE with Christ. Perhaps if one were to squint just so or merely use the imagination, we could imagine the image being that of the two figures, Christ & soul, just about to break into a dance.
The illustration of the SOUL in this window possesses a very special theological significance for us to contemplate: In the OT, the Hebrew word for soul is the word, nepes. It has a wide range of meanings but is primarily used to express the LIFE FORCE OF LIVING CREATURES. ‘Thus, [in Genesis 1:20-21 we read how] all the earth is full of ‘living creatures’ that have the ‘breath of life.’ [And] when God creates Adam, God breathes the breath of life into Adam’s nostrils, and Adam becomes a ‘living being,’” a nepes, a SOUL. Far from referring simply to one part of a person, the ‘soul’ refers to the whole person… and in such places as 1 Kings 19:4 and Ezekiel 32:10, we see where the SOUL refers to a person’s very life itself. We see the way in which SOUL and LIFE refer to one another in our Psalm 23—Here the psalm is often translated: The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures; he leads me beside still waters; he restores my soul…
OR (this last section is also translated): He restores my LIFE.
In the NT, the word soul appears in significant places as well. In Mark 3:4, Jesus asks the synagogue authorities whether it is lawful on the Sabbath to ‘save life [or SOUL] or to kill.’ In the parable of the rich young fool in Luke 12:13-20, the ‘young man says to his soul that he has ample goods laid up for many years; Jesus then tells him: ‘This very night your soul (life force) is being demanded of you.’
If I desire to follow Christ, the decision has SOUL & LIFE SIGNIFICANCE
From these meanings of SOUL, there seems to be something in this window’s depiction about how closeness with God, with the 2nd person of the Trinity, God’s Son, gives life… Herein, we encounter or need meditate on Christ’s words to us in John 14 today: BECAUSE I LIVE, YOU ALSO WILL LIVE. See here how everything starts with God’s action. As Presbyterian Christians in the Reformed Tradition, we believe that God is the life-force, the source, the LOVING initiator that enabled our relationship in the first place. It is a willingness to let go of our hard-heartedness, our own prerogatives, and‡ living as our unique selves, as who God created us to be‡ dare to dive into living relationship with God.
Personally speaking, as I see this window too, my imagination is drawn to remember the spirituality course I recently took called Contemplative Listening. Here, as seminarians-in-training, we were encouraged to LEARN how to listen to another’s soul as well as listen to our own.
This matter of soul listening is crucial. When have you listened to another’s soul?!—Perhaps, taken a seat at your favorite café, and just looked at another human being, their whole self, in the eyes—and de-cluttering yourself from your usual preoccupations, dared to ask: HOW ARE YOU?! Perhaps you (could) sit down with someone at Jims and Tuckers and ask: How is God moving & active in your life?
When I think about a good soul listener, two people come to mind: My college chaplain, who would often take us to the local independent coffee shop for honest conversations. I remember most how his eyes would sparkle at times when he encouraged us to imagine how God was moving and, to quote one of his favorite phrases, being a life-giving source for us.
He would remind us that: Even when life feels odd--- remember you’re loved by a Dancing God—and challenged us to see where LIFE was. There was space to express our doubts, our fears, and our hopes. He would remind us, in the vein of Socrates’ well-known phrase, that ‘the unexamined life is not worth living,’ and encourage us to truly listen to our heart & mind, OUR SOUL, to be willing to risk asking the HARD QUESTIONS, and to love God, as the Scripture proclaims, with all our heart & Mind--- and hence SOUL…..Also in these conversations with my college chaplain, he would sometimes share from an appropriate, mutual place that made us feel like We’re Not Alone.
b) My Grandmother was another triumphant listener. I still remember how, when my Grandfather’s Alzheimer’s got very bad, her care-giving skills kicked in. She had this incredible way of attentiveness- of noticing when something little was off or wrong. When the dreadful time came where my Grandfather had to move into a health care center—and we all cried and she, in particular, felt greatly distressed—I will always remember how she spent her days there at the center, caring deeply for my Grandfather…. And then ALSO going and listening to the stories of the other patients there. She knew everyone by name. She would give them a head and listen to their stories. There was “Sea Daddy,”—the old Navy captain, Ted, Dan, Silvia… and my Grandmother loved all of them….
Reminding me of the Scripture, paraphrasing, if we know how to give good gifts to our children, how much more will our father in heaven take care of us?!
Here, time takes on a different pace—less studded by the pressures of the blackberry or the false belief that we can always be secure from dead, communication OPENED, masks dropped, and SOUL & LIFE LISTENING HAPPENED.
Hard NOW:
Things have been hard for us. Our congregation has seen a good amount of pain: people we love in the hospital and struggling with illness. We have many of us that are looking day in and out for work. We have leads and possibilities and then
Our businesses, our homes, and even our congregation is facing significant financial questions. In this vein and others, there might seem to be little to dance about.
YET—there are a few interesting things about dancing---
First, comes to mind for me—the image from high school dances, actually- or something from the 1980’s TV Show “Saved by the Bell”--- Here, the question remains: What- if I approach this person and ask them to dance, will they refuse or back away from the dance? THE AMAZING THING ABOUT OUR GOD IS, HOWEVER, IS THAT HE NEVER BACKS AWAY.
Another interesting thing about dancing is that it is ultimately something about CONNECTION & INTIMACY: I imagine the beautiful scene from the “King & I” where the lead characters sing, “Shall We Dance.” I imagine the gentle, rocking dance between a mother and her baby…. Or the first dance of a couple on their wedding day—danced to their special song. Dance is about CONNECTION & INTIMACY.
And so let us remember, even when life feels odd--- remember you’re loved by a Dancing God.
But you might be wondering: What is it that makes God a dancing God – and is there anything in our theology to support this idea? And I say YES and it starts with our understanding of the Trinity!
In a contemporary text of Reformed Theology, Daniel Migliore writes about the dance between God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit called PERICHORERIS in our understanding of the Trinity. He says:
Perichoresis is a Greek word translated ‘mutual indwelling’ or ‘interpenetration.’ It was first used by the patristic theologians (or Church Fathers] to describe the mutual indwelling of the divine and human natures in Christ, the Incarnate Word. Then, in the eight century, John of Damascus” used the term to describe the unique communion of the God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in the Trinity relationship. The three persons of the Trinity live in, with, and through each other in ineffable communion. (INDEX- Migliore) And you know one way that modern theologians enjoy depicting this communion—as something like a triangle dance (rather than square) where God the Father, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit live in harmony with each other—and therein, knowing relationship themselves, invite us to enter relationship with them, with our One God!
Friends, this is huge! It means simply that, like the woman-soul & Christ depicted in that window, God desires to be in relationship with us.
I was talking with a friend from another country the other day who is also in seminary, and he told me these words… words that I have been pondering in my heart deeply and so I share with you. He asked me: Is the United States of America going to end up like Europe—where our churches are empty and fading in significance because we no longer believe in God as an active, moving reality in our life—as God as more than just an idea that we can control for our own benefit but never truly engage with.
Although part of me grimaced at these words, I sensed within them a call—a call for all of us—to remember who and whose we are! To dare to… believe more and more fully again. We are all of us on a journey, and we are here together because we trust that God has something to say to us and that it is God who is at the helm of this ship.
Reading from the Dictionary of Theological Interpretation of the Bible the other day, one comes upon these words:
“Humanity can never interpret itself in terms of itself, but only in terms of God, its creator.” -- We are always related to God—and let us remember this orientation in all times and stages of our life—when we’re doing the innocent swirls of childhood, the enthusiastic dances of youth, the tango of middle age… and the opening broad waltz of age.
This section from John’s Gospel we read today is also known as “The Farewell Discourse.”
“The primary orientation of the Farewell Discourse is not to an event that preceded it, but to an event whose arrival is imminent—that is, Jesus’s death, resurrection, and ascension.” IT is from this trio-action of death, resurrection, and ascension that we have hope!
From John 14, we see that belief in Jesus empowers the community—and we learn that we are never alone—The first time that the Holy Spirit or Paraclete is mentioned. The Holy Spirit will be our Comforter, Counselor, Advocate to keep us in the dance of communion with our God.
And so, let us dance then—wherever we may be!
To love Jesus is to live with God the Creator and Jesus & the Holy Spirit—that is, to enter into relationship with them, to come home. (WORD)
And so, dance then—wherever we may be!
Even though I walk through the valley—I fear no evil..
For you, God, are with me!
The dancing of our congregation has taken us to many places: The Midway Shelter, baseball stadiums, bible study home meetings, at death beds and hospital beds where newborn babies are born.
And so, even when Life seems Odd, Remember that you are Loved by a Dancing God.
The God, who is our shepherd—who like a horse whisperer, communicates to us, the flock, in ways even stronger than what might first meet the eye—beyond our pain and disappointment. God is in the still, small voice. God the Holy Spirit is alive and working in the world! Will we enter the dance? By God’s grace, friends, we already have! Let us remember this! This is something to dance about!
