I’m Mennonite by culture, and if you know anything about Mennonites you’ll know that we breed to remove any dancing ability. As much as I wanted to dance as a child, I wasn’t allowed and our public high school in the Mennonite community where I grew up didn’t have dances – it might lead to sex. It’s puzzling then that 1 in 20 girls in my high school were pregnant. Perhaps the powers that be should reconsider how and when sex occurs.
Q: Why don’t Mennonites have sex standing up?
A: It might lead to dancing.
I digress, forgive me. I was talking about dance. I love dance, however it feels like a guilty pleasure – remnants of a view learned in childhood that dance = sin. The problem with that view is that it is erroneous. Dance is not sin; dance is used in worship and throughout the Bible as an expression of joy and exuberance. Is it really any surprise then that God has redeemed dance and taught me a different view – his view of dance.
You may wonder how God taught me a new way of thinking. I’m so glad you asked. It’s quite simple, really. The Father asked me to dance, just like a Father takes his daughter’s hand at her wedding for the Father/daughter dance. (Other people’s wedding, not mine – it still felt too shameful to have dancing at my wedding.)
The song Dance with Me is my new favourite worship song because that was what was playing when the Father asked me to dance. It was glorious and wonderful and I felt beautiful and safe in his arms.
If you’ve never danced with the Father, stop for a moment and dance with him. Go ahead, do it now. No one is watching except the Lover of your soul.
5 comments:
I don't think I've ever heard this song and it is SO beautiful. You had me laughing about your upbringing; I could just imagine the whole thing. What a wonderful experience for our Heavenly Father to redeem dance for you in such an intimate way!
I'm sooooo using the joke Andrea!
Great tune...very moving (no intended pun).
I love this tune. 3/4 tunes make you sway, and that's how you end up dancing; thought I am going to ask my wife about the standing up thingy.
Here is another one that you would like.
http://youtu.be/iTVKrM6V0Ak
I grew up in a tradition that didn't allow dancing in the secular sense. Dancing for the Lord never gets old - even my two tired left feet can worship on my feet in dance.
Hi Andrea, I too am a dancer at heart. I have never had any guilt about it. I danced the Scottish Highland Fling as a child, at dances twice a week as a teen, then unto the Lord at Women Aglow meetings. When I started painting I created two expressive canvases about the experience of worship dancing. They now hang in the B.C. Women's Hospital.
A year or so I broke all three bones in my ankle and they were barely able to put it back together again even with all of the metal. I have worked hard just to be able to walk. Last month I was able to give up the cane.
Today, listening to this worship song, I stood and danced. I feel impressed to make it a part of my contemplative spiritual practices. The grace of God is wonderful in how He uses us in each other's lives.
When you danced this week I was sure that I could hear the rush of angel wings. Blessings to you from Deborah.
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