Wednesday, June 10, 2009

wanna dance?

Seth Godin referenced this crazy video. . . . out of curiousity I clicked over and then could not pull my eyes away from it. I dare you to click and see what I mean . . .



Come on now, isn't that the craziest thing?

What do you make of this?
How do you explain this?
What does this reveal about human nature?
What are the implications for Gospel community and Gospel ministry in our community?
Where in your life at are you "dancing"? Where are you afraid to "dance"? Where do you refuse to "dance?" Where are you "dancing" with the crowd, when you should be getting as far away as possible?
Where are you serving as guy #1? Guy #2? Guy 3? Guy or Gal 100?

7 comments:

Roy said...

Cattle mentality, kind of like the Israelites when Moses went up on the mountain, all that's missing is the Golden Calf!

Lisa Lewis said...

I see this video differently than Roy; knowing how Seth Godin is big on getting us to think about our behaviors and how they connect us to the rest of humanity (although the spiritual realm isn't mentioned by Seth), I appreciate you posting this Pastor Tim.

This is an opportunity for us to think about life style evangelism and the concept that someone is always watching. I see the big idea here being how our unique voice and life can be used by God to engage the masses in His dance.

Here are the lyrics to the first verse and chorus of the Celtic song, "Lord of the Dance":
I danced in the morning when the world was young
I danced in the moon and the stars and the sun
I came down from heaven and I danced on the earth
At Bethlehem I had my birth

Dance, dance, wherever you may be
I am the lord of the dance, said he
And I lead you all, wherever you may be
And I lead you all in the dance, said he

Full text here: http://www.celtic-lyrics.com/forum/index.php?autocom=tclc&code=lyrics&id=309

God created in each of us a part to play in His dance of life here on earth; whether we accept His gentlemanly bow to invite us to dance with our humble curtsy is up to us. As you said Pastor Tim, each of us needs to ask where we are in this.

Personally I am thrilled He has held His hand out to me to join in!

Jeannett said...

I LOVE it.

I couldn't help but think of worship on Sunday mornings...where we all sit so prim and proper and maybe even stiffen up when someone in the congregation lets out an "AMEN!"...and while I love Grace, I sometimes wish we were a little more crazy and willing to just worship however the Lord leads us...yet, I don't have to guts to be "the first guy"...I've always wanted to go to one of those African-American Baptist churches where everyone just dances and claps and waves around!

I love how at first, the first guy seemed like a freak and you KNOW everyone was totally making fun of him...but after a while, he taught everyone to just loosen up and not take themselves so stinking seriously...

But there's a lot of ways to look at this...mine is just one. :)

Jacquelyn said...

The psychology of it is very interesting. The bravery and leadership of the first guy and the first two to join him ... the cluster of people that all joined at once and brought in the rest. Fascinating - I won't draw any parallels here but I'm certainly thinking of a few. :)

Jeannett said...

That, or they've all just smoked a whole lot of...

...oh wait, church blog...

:)

Roy said...

I think Jeannett is on to something!

Lisa Rutherford said...

Wow...sorry I was so late in seeing this post.

It seems that in all cultures dancing is a response built into us. Dancing is used in celebration. The Psalms speak of dancing. David danced and offended lots of uptight, religious folks. They didn't consider how his heart was overwhelmed with joy and gratitude that he danced from his heart to worship and honor God.

I too am "afraid" to lead out in doing what God loves for His children to do in praise of Him: sing loudly, shout for joy (we have the best things to be the most joyful about, more than soccer goals and Superbowl wins), clap (I don't let it bother me know. I just start.), dance and bow down.

Imagine what could happen to our hearts if we allowed a spontaneous move of the Spirit to put us physically on our knees and faces during a time of praise or prayer...instead of sitting comfortably and "properly" on soft pews?!

Praising God with multi-cultural believers who have no uptight hindrances to obeying the exhortations in the Psalms is a great way to learn to loosen up and follow the crowd in a good way. (Check out "African Christian Music" or other ethnic Christian music on YouTube for a little taste.)

But it's all got to come from the heart with the right motives to honor our Awesome God.

What if Grace Church was known as the happiest church in town partly because we physically demonstrated the joy and gratitude in our hearts by doing what God calls us to do in the Psalms: dance, shout, clap, raise hands, bow down?

I'd love to hear some shouts of genuine joy burst out of our lungs. We read it in Scripture and we sing it, but we don't do it, especially in corporate worship of the One True God. Did I mention that we have the best news to be the most excited and exuberant about?!?

Anybody wanna dance with me? Not be so afraid what other people will think and worship from our hearts in ways that involve our bodies? Perhaps we could start a praise-Congo-line someday? (Was part of that once and it was beautiful!)

My hubby and I are usually in the last service ;-)