Have you ever known anyone who refuses to play a certain board game or card game or sports game? [pause] Even worse, someone who starts the game, but then if they start losing, they quit?
Often a question like that hurls us back to childhood -- I bet our kids can all name someone -- maybe we were once like that ourselves ;) when the game doesn’t meet our expectations -- which is pretty much “to be winning” -- the temptation is to quit, “like children in the marketplace: the flute’s being played but they did not DANCE”. [ >: ( Humph.]
Ooh! There’s an even better image: ever known someone who absolutely refuses to dance? :) Or worse, starts dancing and then quits in the middle of the song, just walks off?
Sisters and brothers in Christ, God is inviting us this day to get in the game, to join the dance. “Get off the sidelines, stop being a wallflower of faith, and jump in here!” [slowly] But be aware that as the music goes on, we may just find that it’s not a song that we like all that much. It may not be a game that meets our expectations...
...for God’s dance has got some funky beats, some irregular measures, some strange instruments. God’s game takes these unexpected twists and turns. And often it’s tempting to bow out:
“Are you the one, Jesus?! Really? Or are we to wait for another? Is this all there is, Jesus? [pause] Because John the Baptist, our big hero, is all locked up in prison now!” [pause]
(John, here, btw is anyone whose hope is waning, whose despair is creeping in.)
Does it all ever make you want to throw in the towel, to give up and go home? I don’t know about you, but I want to win! I want to be the best! And I want my Jesus to lead me to victory, crushing the competition, knocking out the bad guys, and raising me up on the pedestal to shine like the winning star that I am...or at least that I should be...right?
But this one Jesus, doesn’t do that. His ways are not our ways.
This one Jesus takes a completely different direction, plays a game we never expected. What kind of a dance is this? [pause] Humility? Letting go? Emptying of self and pride? Serving others first? Loving our enemies? Welcoming the stranger? What kind of a crazy dance is this? Not a game I always want to play!
But God’s not done with us yet...
--
When I was going to Confirmation Camp as a kid back in Texas -- Camp Lutherhill -- Jr. High -- there was always a dance the last night. And it was meant to be the grand finale of the week, everyone was so excited building up to the dance. The cute counselor that all the girls liked and thought was so-o-o-o-o cool was the DJ. Everyone was so jr.-high-nervous, and put on their best outfits on for the dance. I was no exception. Heart pounding in adolescent anxiety. Eyes sweeping constantly over the one we wanted to like us back. Hormones churning, sweat glistening, voice cracking. It was terrible:
Kids got rejected, or just totally overlooked, hearts got broken, weird kids always got left out, tears always fell. Some of the worst hours of the week happened that last night at camp. There were winners and there were losers. It was good learning for life, I guess, but this was not a fore-taste of the kind of community and inclusion and love that God invites us into, frankly the opposite of all those great themes that highlighted our week up until then. No, this was torture.
Walls were being built, cruelly dividing up who’s in/out. The strong triumphed over the weak...you get the picture. And others just got plain left out. I hated it almost every year.
(Basically, it looked like just about every other dance in middle school and beyond ... But but this was church!)
Well, I am pleased to tell you that camp dances have really evolved for the better...or maybe our camps here in Southern California have always been doing it right...because the first time I took our confirmation kids to camp, I was so pleased to see the way they make the dance a blast for EVERYONE.
They taught line dances, where everyone could participate, And they’ve come up with these inclusive games now, where someone invites you to dance until everyone has been invited by someone to dance. (“A-a-a-a-and you look like a real cool cat...”)
And then they have “the paddle dance” where one person gets to hold a canoe paddle like a queen or a king, and two people beg that one person to pick them. If you don’t get picked, then you get the paddle next and get to have two people beg you to dance. Now, there’s still drama and hormones, but I gotta tell you, after my obviously traumatizing memories back at Lutherhill, it almost brought tears to my eyes to see those awkward kids, those nerdy kids, those outsider kids, kids in wheelchairs, kids covered in zits and dandruff and the cool kids, all having a genuine blast together on the dance floor.
It was like the lessons of the week were literally being embodied in these ... funky beats, irregular melodies, strange instruments: these are the games of God.
Sisters and brothers in Christ, Jesus invites us into a dance, and it’s not one we win at. It’s one where everyone joins in.
“You go tell, John,” Jesus says, “that everyone is dancing!” The blind receive their sight. The lame walk. The lepers are cleansed. The deaf hear, the dead are raised...and the goofy, smelly, awkward kid is dancing and being cheered on in the middle of the circle. There’s no better feeling for a kid than everyone chanting your name to the beat. “Go Thomas, go Thomas…”
It’s not what we expected. It’s not what the rest of the world calls cool or successful. It’s not winning and beating others. It’s God’s unconditional love, poured out for you and for me and for both the outcast and the cool kid. It’s not the game we thought we were playing, but you go tell John...
...that with Jesus, no one is left out. This is a glimpse of God’s party. Go back, sisters and brothers in Christ, and tell John! It’s not what you thought, and there’s still plenty of pain in the world, but I tell you: Christ is here. Now. And he is the one. AMEN.
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