Fairfield Presbyterian Church
Connect with us
  • Home
  • About
  • Blog
  • Programs
  • Contact

DANCE LESSONS - from Sunday, July 12, 2015

7/14/2015

0 Comments

 
Picture
Dance from any era can be a beautiful expression, but the modern dance era ushered by Martha Graham has injected high energy and actively stretches to embrace the passions of human life. Dance features prominently in both scriptures, and there are lessons for us.

If we start in Mark 6, the dancer is Herod's daughter Salome (misnamed perhaps as Herodias) combined with a likely tipsy royal. Herod overextends himself with a wild promise to the girl. Her stunning petition - John the Baptist's head on a platter - reveals how the mighty one has been compromised and manipulated by his own words. Having to save face before an array of VIP guests at his birthday party, he is trapped and orders the execution. It is a lesson in how the worldly powers and powerful people are often very willing to sacrifice righteousness for sin, life for death.

In 2 Samuel 6, David has decided to resume the journey which would bring the Ark of the Covenant into Jerusalem. It had been aborted when the initial gala was organized to celebrate David, his victories, his status, his position, and his achievements. God was left out. Poor Uzzah, who tried to save the Ark of God (save God) when it seemed imperiled on the cart, was struck dead. Uzzah's action reflected the unfaithfulness and hubris of the whole event - the last straw, it seems, for God.

In this passage, David comes to the occasion quite differently. The procession has hardly begun moving before the king makes sacrifices and humbles himself before God. Now it's clear that it was God who gave David all of his triumphs, and this celebration is not a congratulatory parade for David, but a joyous thanksgiving procession celebrating the love and devotion of God for his people.



David dances in un-kingly style, wearing only a linen ephod, not the royal regalia of either victorious general or triumphant king. He is openly loathed and chastized by the late King Saul's daughter, Michal. But David doesn't care, declaring his devotion to God would cause him to go even further.

The worldly hubris of the first attempt brought death, but in this second attempt, the blessing of becomes the primary focus, and God's blessing has converted David into a witness for the Kingdom of God where the last are first and the first are last.

Sorry about no video. The camera cut off because it ran out of memory, and then I mistakenly lost the fragment that did come through. (Too bad, I showed my dancing skills so aptly, and did a decent drunken Herod impersonation.) Alas, there is the text downloadable below as well as the Fairfielder answers.

07-12-15-ff-answers.pdf
File Size: 22 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

07-12-15-dance_lessons.pdf
File Size: 142 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Archives

    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly