DANCING WITH GOD
II Samuel 5:1-3; 6:1-5, 16-22
Rev. Gary Paterson
July 5, 2009
Well, here we are friends, at sermon #4 in our David series. Remember how it all began a few weeks ago when young David was chosen to be King… mind you, he was just a shepherd boy, nothing special; and from an everyday kind of town like Bethlehem… nothing special; and from the house of Jesse… which was just a little bit suspect… you know, foreign women in the not distant background; and this David… he was an 8th son, way at the bottom of the heap, not dominant #1 nor lucky # 7; an afterthought; nothing special. But that’s the person God chose, seeing something special in the ordinary, as ordinary as David, and you and me. And then there was David’s battle with Goliath, a story of hope when struggling with all the bullies and demons of the world, inside and outside your skin; and with all the tyrants, dictators and military and political bullies of the world. But, on the other hand, it’s a story that gets real confusing when you put it beside Jesus’ demand that we learn to love our enemies. And last week… David’s heartbreak; his tears, upon hearing that his best friend Jonathan is dead, his beloved friend Jonathan. And he cries… like everyone of us. If you’re going to be human you’re going to have to do your grief work, love what is mortal… with all your bones… and then let it go; and cry. Strangely though, it seems precisely in his tears that David meets God; sometimes the Spirit travels with those tears to bring us to new place of softness and illumination.
Today, David is anointed King of Judah and Israel; it’s a big day. Mind you, we skipped several years between last week’s lamentation for the death of Saul and Jonathan, and this coronation. There was civil war; Saulites versus Davidites. You see, Saul had another son, Ishbal, and he might even have won the day, but it turned out that Abner, Ishbal’s General, was messing around with some of the royal concubines; Ishabal threw a public fit; at which point Abner decided to change sides, and swear loyalty to David; which meant that the war was almost won; except that Joab, David’s general was real worried, and so had Abner assassinated; at which point David threw a fit… well, don’t let anyone ever tell you the Bible is boring. Hey, come the November rains, you haul out your Bible and turn to II Samuel for a little Old Testament “Dynasty” mixed with “Peyton Place.”
So, today David puts on the royal crown. And he’s smart; don’t ever kid yourself -- David is a political animal. (I know what I’m talking about.) He’s casting about for a capital city but he can’t settle in Hebron -- too far to the south, into Judah; nor could he got to Shiloh in the north, for the same kind of reasoning. A little like the beginnings of this country… capital in Toronto? Or Montreal? Let’s compromise… and choose Ottawa… a nothing town right in the middle. Which strangely enough is what Jerusalem was. The Jebusites controlled the city and thus it had never been part of any of the twelve tribes. Neutral territory. So David quickly conquered it, despite its reputation as in impregnable city; around the year 1000 before the Common Era, Jerusalem enters the Hebrew psyche. And now here’s an example of what I mean about David’s political smarts. Jerusalem is now the political centre of the nation; but David knows how to make it the religious centre as well. All he has to do is bring the Ark of the Covenant from its temporary resting place in the home of Abinadab to Jerusalem; and maybe build a temple to house it. The Ark of the Covenant… scholars aren’t a hundred per cent sure about what it was, precisely. It contained holy objects; maybe even the tablets of the Ten Commandments; it looked a bit like a throne… God’s throne. But it was holy; it was as close as Israel ever got to locating God in space; here, in, on, all around the Ark…. Holiness!! And when it arrived in Jerusalem, it seemed that even God was well pleased with David.
Now, before we go on with the story I want to pull back, and just offer a couple of side-comments. The first is that in this story of David we are bumping right into Israel’s conviction that when you looked carefully at history you would find the presence of God. Not a lot of philosophy in the Bible; and in the first three-quarters or so, not much talk of what happens after life; no… what you get, over and over, is a passionate belief that God’s going to be encountered in the nitty-gritty of our lives, in our stories, what we call our history. Trouble is, of course, it’s hard to determine what might be of God; and what isn’t… it can be ambiguous. But there are signs that point in certain direction.. a movement toward graeter justice, peace, wholeness; to life. So,for instance, I wonder if in hindsight, we might recognize and name the environmental movement as something in which the Spirit was and is moving, an example today of God in history. You want to know more about the God of the Jews and Christians, then look to history, the world of economics, politics, justice, relationships, community, social structures; take a good look at how human beings are living together, among themselves, and with the rest of the living earth.
The second comment is connected to the first. When religion and politics start dancing together, it can get very scary; and religion always seems to get its toes stomped on, and then gets swept off its feet. Religion gets co-opted, loses sight of its deepest calling; the church ends up blessing the status quo; and religious leaders get excited about the perks that go with this new relationship - respect; power; wealth. The God of justice, liberation, with a holy love for all people, for all creation… that God sort of disappears into ritual and routine. Mind you, it seems that it’s a dance that can never stop; we humans need both religion and politics to order our lives together;but it is a fraught relationship. Don’t you just love that word… “Fraught”. Just think about what’s happening in Iran; with the Christian right in the States; think Crusades… no…let’s make a long list. Just remember, when religion and the state start cozying up with each other, be very careful.
But let me get back to the story, the next chapter of which could be called “Something Happened on the Road to Jerusalem”… not a bad movie title, eh? Imagine the scene, starting with the Biblical description: “David and all the house of Israel were dancing before the LORD with all their might, with songs and lyres and harps and tambourines and castanets and cymbals…with shouting, and with the sound of the trumpet.” Imagine leaping , gyrating, David dancing half-naked, in his undershorts. Muscles and sweat; drums, trumpets… rhythm. A crowd… earlier in the story the number “thirty thousand chosen men of Israel” got bandied around; that’s how many were actually in the parade… you can just imagine all the folk who were watching! That’s a lot of people. You could get carried away in a parade like that. You could leave yourself open to the Spirit grabbing hold of you… through your body. David takes his first step; then the next; and the third one… well, that’s not just a step… you can tell he’s starting to dance. Maybe he was marching at the head of parade as a political statement; sure he was; but then something else happened. Maybe he was filled by a gratitude that started spilling over, so convinced of God’s presence with him; so thankful for everything, from green pastures to still waters, to becoming king. And everything in between. Even the hard times; sure, he danced his tears as well; danced his life before God; well, maybe even with God. He lost his worry about himself, his self-consciousness, all those voices from somewhere who kept saying, be appropriate, act properly, be orderly, controlled, act your age. And he let it rip… full out dancing…. like a Sufi Muslim; a Hasidic Jew, a Shaker Christian. He danced because finally, he couldn’t help himself. Any of you fans of the Peanuts cartoon strip? -- remember the Snoopy dance, with his hind feet in a wild drum roll; a foot off the ground, a massive grin upon his face; even his ears are bouncing. Well, I think that’s how David was dancing --politics had suddenly given way to sheer joy and thankfulness. This may not be what a monarch should do… I tried imagine good Queen Elizabeth doing this… and I just couldn’t picture it… too painful. But it’s what David was doing, politics be damned. Filled with God, caught by the passion of the moment, he let his body dance praise to the Holy.
Speaking of what’s proper, we catch a glimpse of David’s wife Michal, looking at him from the window. Now her story is another sermon, with a lot of sexist pain; but here, in this story, she is the voice that tries to stop us from dancing. Just listen to her as she tears a strip off David: “Michal daughter of Saul looked out of the window, and saw King David leaping and dancing before the LORD; and she despised him in her heart… she came out to meet David and said, “How the king of Israel honored himself today, uncovering himself today before the eyes of his servants’ maids, as any vulgar fellow might shamelessly uncover himself!” Whooo… you can just hear the tone, can’t you? You know this voice, don’t you? It’s probably deep inside your brain, lodged safely in the super ego. Proper, parental, political… just don’t get carried away; just don’t dance.
This is the voice that prevents you from discovering ecstasy… which is where David ended up, I think. That moment when you stop fussing about yourself, when you catch a glimpse of grace and perspective, when you know you’re small, but included ( a phrase from Jay McDaniel). Ec-stasy… getting outside the stasis, the static, the ordinary. Harvey Cox, a theologian from Harvard, has suggested that we are suffering from an ecstasy deficit. Oh we’re kept busy by our culture, and entertained, or distracted, or even addicted…. But not a lot of ecstasy.
On the other hand, music can take you there, real quick. Sex, when it’s joined to love, that does it too… I know, you don’t often hear that in church, but it was St. Augustine of all people who said that maybe the closest we humans are going to get to heaven in this life is in the marriage bed. Holding a little baby… that works. Walking through Stanley Park and dsicovering a thousand shades of green… that’ll send you to your knees pretty quick. And sometimes, please God, it happens in worship. A silent moment; a memory touched; music; an image; water in the font; a candle lit; a taste of bread. Those moments of ecstasy… getting into the zone. But you know what’ it’s like -- the moment you become aware of the holiness of the connection, you’re liable to lose it, caught up in wave of self focus.
Let me be clear, though, when I talk about ecstasy I’m not talking about some kind of spiritual high that leaves you somehow floating out in space. I’m actually talking about how you need your body; that’s how the connections get made… through and in the body. David dancing… sweat, tiredness, new energy, laughter, a drink of water, leaping up, then down, closer to the earth, touching, spinning, twirling, whirling, dizzy, a moment of absolute stillness, and then the trumpet sounds. This is all about spirit being rooted in the flesh; it’s the God in history story again, only this time written through an individual body. It’s incarnation; that’s what it is. The theologian Barbara Brown Taylor talks of the body being the soul’s address. Your body is your soul’s address. And somehow David knew that; he knew that his dancing was good; there need be no shame: “It was before the LORD… that I have danced.” He knows what he is capable of; he’s no saint; listen to him: “I will make myself yet more contemptible than this, and I will be abased in my own eyes; but by the maids of whom you have spoken, by them I shall be held in honour.” He knows what was happening in the dancing; he knows he was dancing before God… and maybe even with God.
The body brings us into the world; and when the body tires out, wears out, gets broken, we leave this world. And in between are wonderful and terrible times… with my flesh, through my flesh, in my flesh; and yours; and our neighbours’; and our enemies’. Sometimes we need poets to help us remember this; listen to this one, by Anne Porter; “Susanna” is what it’s called:
There’s not a single inch of your whole body that the Lord does not love. I think David felt that; and that’s why he was dancing, and offering up his whole life to God. An offering of the body.Nobody in the hospitalCould tell the ageOf the old woman whoWas called SusannaI knew she spoke some EnglishAnd that she was an immigrantOut of a little countryTrampled by armiesBecause she had no visitorsI would stop by to see herBut she was always sleepingAll I could do was to get out her combAnd carefully untangleThe tangles in her hair.One day I was beside herWhen she woke upOpening small dark eyesOf a surprising clearnessShe looked at me and saidYou want to know the truth?I answered Yes.She said it’s something thatMy mother told meThere’s not a single inchOf our whole bodyThat the Lord does not love.She then went back to sleep.
Now let me invite to try out an exercise suggested by Barbara Brown Taylor in her book An Altar in the World. It’s part of remembering that your body is your soul’s address. Go into your bedroom; no better yet, the bathroom… because you can lock the door. Now strip… yes, completely. And stand before the mirror, preferably floor length, and take a good look at your body. There’s not a single inch that the Lord does not love. Let go of your judgments, and just feel a holy love surrounding you, emanating from within you. Those feet, with their bunions; the scars and scrapes; the gut that seems to sag; the missing pieces; the abs that you’ve earned working out in the gym; your vigour and youth; your wrinkles; your smile. Every inch… and then, start to pray. Give thanks; grieve the hurts; name what’s happened… your history. And then, maybe… remember, the door is locked… take a step, then another, a third… listen to the rhythm of your heart, beating in rhythm with God’s great heart.. and begin to dance. Like David, dancing before the LORD! Naked as you came and as you’ll go, with the Lord loving every inch of your body, hoping you can do the same… dance; dance.