SHALL WE DANCE
2 Samucl 6:12-15; Psalm 150; John 15:9-11
February 18, 1968

One of the most moving stories in the Old Testament, and one of the most important
events in the history of the Israelite Nation is recorded in the Second Book of Samuel.
Saul, the first King of Israel, was dead; the Blders of the nation had chosen 2 popular,
young folk-hero named David, the son of Jessc, to be his successor. David had his work
cut out for him. The enemics of Isrxel were gathered in battle array, prepared to deal
the young nation a fatal blow. But David, using sound military strategy, defeated them one
by one, until only Jorusalem remained to be taken. This too was accomplished and the
people rejoiced as people do when they are free. I+t was a time to do something that would
express the goodness of the moment; the Ark of the Covenant, the symbol of Isracl's life-—
in-relationship with God would finally be carried into the city on behalf of the whole
nation. The King himself expressed the joy of this momentous occasion ~ “And David
danced before the Lord with all his might."

At first thought, a sermon with a title "Shall We Dancet might seem a bit too flippant,
too irreverent. But before you render that judgment ., allow me to expl-in 2 little of
what I have in mind. Since the earliest days of recorded history dancing has been one
of the enduring forms of self oxpression. When David's joy was too intense to be contained
any longer he "danced with all his might". ‘There is a little of that in the lusty folk
dances in Central Europe and the Balkans. American Indians danced before and after battle.
Ancient men danced as an act of prayer: they danced to express grief and joy. As an art-
form, there is nothing more expressive than bodily movement, .best illustrated in the dig-—
cipline of ballet. Dancing is one of the ways men in all ages have expressed the deep
feelings that at times are inexpressible in words nlone.

The anthem this morning contains that fascinating thought: the theology is clear and
articulate. God had something he wanted to communicate. And so he danced the dance of
creation, and he came down from heaven and danced the birth of Jesus Christ. With unerring
consistency the life of Christ - teaching, calling, healing, dying, rising ogoin - is seen
as a dance —- a self-expression -— a word from God.

Life is a dance, the anthem is saying: "Christ is the Lord of life. 'Dence wherever
you may be - I'll lead you in the dance,’ said He™ You can't very well arguo with that
statement. It is certainly more to the point than some of the obscure scntiment contained
in our hymnbook.

But I wouldn't anticipate your being as concerned about the theology as about the whole
idea if dancing as a subject relevant to the Church of Jesus Christ. so Ict's look again,
thinking further about the word "dance". Basically, dancing is 2 joyful cxercise. Tho one
theme that runs through mearly all forms of dancing is a kind of joy that bubbles over and
just cannot be adequately expressed. One of the best illustrations of that T've ever seen
came across the television screen last week in the delightful half hour special, "He's
Your Dog, Charlie Brown", That, of course, was a whole lot more than a cartoon; and at
several points it illustrated perfectly the idea I am trying to convey. Charlie Brown
and Snoopy were separated from each other as the result of obstinancy, misunderstanding,
and Snoopy's general capacity for making a nuisance of himself. Charlic Brown had handled
the situation badly and at the moment of reunion there was obvious repentance on both sides -
at least for a moment. There occurred one bricf moment of reconciliation when Charlie
Brown and his dog joined hands and threw themselves into a joyful, exuberant dance.

Doncing, and the music which is necessary for dancing has always served this kind of
function. And so it is logical that music and dancing have been appropriate forms of
worship. David danced with all his might. Psalm 150 urged the worshipper to praise God
with the trumpet, lute and harp: Praise God with timbrel, strings, pipe, cymbal — and with
the dance.

Sometimes I think we need nothing so desperately as that. If the author of that great
Psalm were to hear us mumbling our way through the hymn of praise on Sunday morning he
might think that God is, indeed, dead. He surely would wonder what happened to his Psalm.

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Certainly there is little, at least on the surface, to indicate that we're glad to be here,
and that beneath our liturgy is an overflowing joy in the goodness and graciousness of
God. We have managed, in our day, so to divorce religion from profound expressions

of joy thet nothing could be further from our mind than dancing. In worship, as in lifo,
we are concerned with conformity, with remaining hidden in the crowd, with staying cool
and calm and collected. We don't want to become enthusiastic, at least expressively
enthusiastic about anything, particularly things religious.

The result is a certain pomposity in worship, a lack of aliveness that males the whole
routine rather dull. .- But then, we're not just talking about the exporicnce of corporate
worship, for life is like that. In our common life the cards are stacked agoinst freedom
of expression; anxiety is in the air; regimentation is the by-word, from the way we dress
to the way we think politically, to the way we eat. We like the safe focling of concen-
sus — ond there is no room in that for anything so personal, so intensely individualistic
as a good, sound expression of pure joy. Yet there are among us those who would take
exception, several representatives of whom have the good sense to bring the music of
dancing and joy into our solemn assemblage.

The whole idea of dance as a form of worship, or even as a idca appropriate to the
conveyonce of the thrust of our Christian faith, is alion to us -— to some of us that Let
some of us who happen now to be a minority. The majority of Americans, at this moment,
happen to be young people under 25, and if there is anything they are not it is pompous,
phony or dull. They exude enthusiasm for life, they strain to be free of the strictures
of adult life, they rebel at being made to voluntarily enter some of the prisons of
adulthood. If there is anyone left in the world who knows how to be joyful, how to teach
us the art and practice of joyful living, it is our ow youth.

Numerically, they are the majority, and this fact alone has given rise to a whole
Nyouth culture" that exists within, but independent from the mainstream of Amorican culture.
Commercially, young people today are the major market. ‘Time magazine this weck ran an
article describing the growing credit card business among teen agers. Advertising, of
course, has long understood the numerical strength of youth, and the potont force of
youth culture. Advertisers have learned quickly that dcep within every American heart
there lingers the fantasy of youth. More than half of us may be young, but a good portion
of the other half are pretending they are.

Fashions are set by the young; the astronauts, the Kennedy brothers together have
created an image of youthful leadership and conquest. About the only thing youth culture
does not influence tremendously, or even seem to be concerned about, is religion. We'll
return to the implications of that later.

Youth culture exists as a reaction against adult culture, a protest against what
adulthood has come to mean in our day. And it is Significant that dancing is perhaps
the point at which the line is most sharply drawn. Youth is joyful, but irreverent:
youth reveres sincerity but abhores phoniness: integrity is in, pomposity is out. Young
people ask serious questions: young people delight in slaughtering sacred cows and ob-
serving our embarrassed pain. The stereotype adult response is to indict youth in
general as immoral, irresponsible and irreverent. Let's listen to how ono young .man
answered: “Look at you, blowing up whole countries for the sake of some crazy ideologies
that you don't live up to anyway. Look at you, conning 2 whole generation of kids
into getting a revolving charge account, and buying your junk. (ho's a junkie?) Look
at you, ncecding a couple of stiff drinks before you can talk with another human being.
Look at you, .making it with your neighbor's wife on the sly just to try and prove that
you're really alive. Look at you, hooked on your cafeteria of pills, and making up dirty
names for anyone who isn't in your bag; and messing up the land and the water and the
air for profit, and calling this nowhere scone the Great society! And you're gonna
tell us how to live. C'mon man, you've got to be kidding!" (p.28, It's Happening, Simmons
and Wingrad)

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That kind of talk frightens us because itts so honest. That particular polemic
was delivered, of course, by a Hippic. It would be a mistake to charactozize all young
people as Hippies. And it would, it secms to me, be less than responsible to glorify
what amounts to an infantile retreat from the reality of life. ind yet there is a kinship
here — a common suspicion of the Establishment with its staid decorum; its herd of
sacred cows, its ethic that nobody cares about — which is shared with the cntire mentality
of youth culture.

I believe that the adult world ~ and particularly the part of the adult world that
calls itself Christian-has a lot of things to learn from the youth culture, and the
clear responsibility to make a creative response.

Two things specifically: the first is integrity. That's an important word for young
people ond they don't have to be very perceptive to discover that it is not an important
word in the adult world. Young people look at our world, and see, time and time again,
that honesty just doesn't pay. Woe to the father who cheats on his income tax and pads
his expense account and then tries to sermonize on the evils ofcheating on a test. Woe
to the father who displays his bigotry and then lectures his college son on patriotism.
Woe to tho adult world that glorifies sexuality and then hides behind the puritan ethic.
Youth are demanding integrity and we'd better learn to deliver the goods.

A very significant event occurred last summer. The Beatles, who are the living
symbols of youth culture, were offered one million dollars to do two concerts in New
York's Shea Stadium. They turned it down because the kind of music they were doing couldn't
be performed in that way, and they refused to perform their old numbers ~ just for money.
Youth culvure loves that kind of integrity because they know it never would have happened
in the adult world. They are conscious of the fact that they live in a world of people
who would do anything for a million dollars.

We ought to be learning something here about integrity.

The second thing we ought to be hearing is a word about joy and exuberance. We
began by thinking about dancing, and it is in dancing that young people best express
the joy and sheer happiness in being alive that is sadly absent from our lives — and
particularly our worship. I think this is one reason why organized religion is not
particularly meaningful to the young. They read the 150 Psalm and thea they see a
sanctuary full of long faced people who look, for all the world as if they are engaging
in corporate mourning, and they smell something very phony.

The Old Testament readings this morning, along with the words of the enthem, were an
invitation to dance ~ to engage in worship by expressing the sheer joy of being a child
of God. The anthem, using a tune that is contemporary and an instrument that is common,
and people who are very much alive -— is an invitation to all of us to express the pro-—-
fundities of our religious faith in ways that are authentic and real.

We live in a joyless age: current events weigh heavily in our thinking.

Why should there be joy? What reason is there to dance? Isn't it irresponsible while
turmoil happens all about us?

Here is the point at which dancing and Christian Faith converge. The real cause for
celebration ~ the real reason why singing and dancing ought to characterize Christian
Faith ~ is found in Jesus Christ. At the end of a conversation with his disciples he
said: “These things I have spoken to you that my joy may be in you, and that your joy
may be full." (He meant that liter ally, I suspect).

What if there is a God, and that God who has created and ordered all things
also fashioned man after his image? What if that God so loved that man thot he came to
live with him and die for him? What if that God has opened the door to a ew kind of
life - a life that begins now and proceeds roughshod right over death? that if that God
keeps coming to man, loving him as he is?

That is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. That is the news which men, for 2,000 years, have
called good. That is the word God has spoken to each one of us.

Shall we dance? That may be a flippant, irreverent suggestion. And then it just
might be on appropriate suggestion, at that!

Help us, our Father, to know the goodness of Thy love. Grant us the gi
May our lives be filled to overflowing with joy of Thy presence. Through Jes

t of laughter.
3 Christ our