Exodus 3:1-15
Romans 12:9-21
Pentecost 15
NUCC
"'God only knows where this dance is going to take us,' he muttered.
He turned to look back at the summit of the mountain.
'It's up to You,' he shouted.
'I have no idea where we're heading.
Freedom, what a chance, a dance, we're taking!'"
These are the words that a Jewish story-teller puts in the mouth of Moses, just after he has encountered the holy presence of God in a burning bush on a mountain. The meeting began when Moses followed a dancing lamb into the prancing flames of a bush on fire.
Such was the wonderful, frightening challenge that a middle-aged man faced many, many years ago. After this he would lead an often times reluctant, skeptical, fearful group of people on a forty-year journey to the Promised Land. We have come to call this time the Exodus.
We too are called and challenged to take a spirit led journey in this 21st century. We too are led by the same God who faced Moses in the burning bush and invited him to join an amazing dance. The dance of life. The dance of faith.
I’d like to use that image with you this morning as we learn from Moses and Paul and Jesus what it means to:
- Begin the dance.
- As we take a chance.
- And learn that our lives will be enhanced.
1. Begin the dance.
Last year I told you about the dancing Karen and I did in
I think the Africans are on to something. The great adventure which we call faith is like a dance. I would suggest to you that it is much more like a graceful dance than a dutiful march. One of the central tenets of the Christian faith which we Protestants like to lift up is Salvation by Faith, not works. We like to say that we don’t earn God’s love by doing good things. We don’t get to heaven by what we have done. Rather we love because God first loved us.
In our New Testament Lesson this morning we hear a man called Paul giving advice to the new Christians in the city of
In the movie “Shall We Dance,” a fellow named John Clark is feeling kind of stale. He has a good life ---- a fine job, a loving wife, and great children. But he’s just going through the motions. Then one night as he is riding the commuter train home from work in
This is exactly the kind of dance I believe God is inviting us to join. To join the dance of life ----- not from duty, not by counting the numbers, but by dancing from the heart ----- and letting what happens happen.
2. To dance this way, to live this way, to be spirit led ----- means that we also have to take a chance. We have to accept the possibility of falling on our face ----- or as John Clark did, stepping on his partner’s dress and ruining the dance. Taking part in this holy dance is not necessarily easy or natural to us.
Sometimes God has some pretty scary things for us to do. Moses found that out when God challenged him to go back to
Paul lists all kinds of what my Bible calls “Marks of the True Christian.” They are also on the back of your bulletin. There they are called “Do’s and Don’ts”. These are difficult tasks:
1. Loving with a genuine love, not a show love.
2. Not getting even.
3. Being patient in time of trouble.
4. Blessing everyone who mistreats you.
5. Treating every person as a friend.
The list goes on. How can we do those things? They go against our nature. What happens if I actually let that nasty person get away with treating me such a way? Or, even more challenging in this age of terrorism ----- what if nations take Paul’s advice to heart? Oooooh. That would be hard wouldn’t it? Perhaps a start would be to take the advice William Willimon’s mother who admonished him: “Remember who you are!” That’s what she told him when he went out on a date. “You behave son. Remember how I raised you.”
The challenge for William Willimon and for us is to take a chance on allowing God’s spirit to lead us. Take a chance to join the dance. You may lose the dance contest as John Clark did in the movie I mentioned. But you may just go on to win the “Big Dance of Life.”
3. Indeed if you take a chance join the dance, you life will be enhanced. Both Moses and Paul came to live very different lives because of their encounters with God’s spirit ----- one in a flaming bush and the other in a blinding light. They went on to be men of powerful faith.
Brother Roger, the simple monk of Taizé, who was buried this week in a wooden casket enhanced the lives of thousands of young people (And not so young people.) who came to his little settlement on the top of a hill in the
The same can be true for you and for me. This morning I look at little Gracie May Flicek. I marvel at her. And I wonder at all of the adventures that she has ahead of her in her life. Each one of us has a role and a responsibility in her life. We will be dancing with her ------ or at least we’ll be watching her as she takes those first limping steps and then begins to dance. I can’t wait.
