Fourth Sunday of Advent 2018
4th Sunday of Advent/ “May We All Learn to Dance”
I have never been much of a dancer. But I recognize the benefits of dancing.
We have the expected advantages. Dancing is said to be a way to exercise. Now we are not talking about those aerobic workouts where people grunt and groan at a hectic pace. What we are talking about is a dance like a ball room dance. Perhaps we are talking about a line dance which even the most rhythmically challenged can participate in.
People point out that dancing can be done at any age. My father suffered from Alzheimer’s disease. He loved to dance when he was younger. When he was 90 and could not get out of his wheel chair, he would tap his foot if someone would come in to entertain at the nursing home.
The biggest benefit of dance is that it can be a spiritual experience. We can forget about the cares of this world for a few minutes. Rhythmic movements release endorphins in the brain. So, there is a feeling of wellbeing like a runner’s high after hitting the two-mile mark.
We have two very famous episodes that involve dance in the scriptures. One is found in 2 Samuel 6:14. In that passage, the Ark of the Covenant, the gold-plated box with the throne on top is brought to the new city of Jerusalem. King David wants the primary symbol of the Jewish faith in the capital city.
As we see the story unfold the people of Israel dance in procession before the ark as it is brought into the city. David offers sacrifice to the Lord. He then strips down to his skivvies. He dances before the ark in ecstasy. He has a deep religious experience before all the people.
The second dance episode we think of in scripture is in the Gospel. John the Baptist dances in his mother’s womb like David. What triggers John, as a baby in his mother’s womb, to dance? He recognizes the new Ark of the covenant, Mary’s womb. Contained within was the divine presence who was coming into the world to redeem it.
At that very moment a Beatitude is uttered by St. Elizabeth. In the Gospel of Luke, as well as in all of scripture, beatitudes surprise, we the readers. The beatitude that Elizabeth, the cousin of Mary utters, is, “Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled.”
The beatitude is echoed later in the Gospel of Luke 11:27. In that episode a woman comes to the adult Jesus. She says, “Blest is the womb that bore you and the breasts that fed you.” Rather Jesus says, “Blest are they who hear the word of God and keep it.” Jesus is not being critical of his mother. He is telling all of us what made Mary special. What made her special is that she was a person who believed and then acted on that belief.
What the writer of the Gospel of Luke is saying is that the way to true satisfaction in life is to live the Christian life with conviction. If we only pay lip service to our Christian vocation, we will not find joy, but if we conscientiously live our Christian life, we will find the key to living a good life. We can all be the bearer of God’s son. We cannot be the mother of God’s son physically. Only Mary did that. But that is not what is most important when we consider the Blessed Virgin. What is most important about Mary is her spiritual example, an example that we should not just admire, but as a Christian we should try to imitate.
Once Mary committed to be the God bearer it did not mean her trials were over. In many ways the difficulties were just beginning. She faced the world as an unwed mother. But she never thought she had been abandoned by God. Mary had the sense, we are led to believe, that the hand of divine providence always rested on her.
If we believe that also, then that truly is a blessing. The lives we lead matter in the large picture. Our faith is tested almost every day. Our church community has gone through another week of turmoil because of ongoing abuse crisis. We have no sign that this will end any time soon. How are we going to survive we might ask? We don’t know today, but we will tomorrow if we believe that redemption is a reality. Jesus did not come into the world to abandon the world. If we believe in our low moments as individuals and as a church community that the Spirit will lead us where we need to go maybe our heavy steps become a little lighter. We might even feel like dancing in the face of the terrifying unknowns of life. We may be able to delight in the mystery that confounds us at every moment.
Please note: rough draft....grammar may not be perfect!