Is Dancing a Competitive Sport?

The Promised Land always lies on the other side of a wilderness. Havelock Ellis’ The Dance of Life (1923)

I was at church a week or so ago taking care of business which, for me, is running the audio and video equipment for our church services. I miss being in the pulpit and behind the altar, but I’m glad I can be a part of extending the church’s reach during this seemingly never-ending pandemic. 

If it hadn’t been for the virus, we would never have learned how to get the excellent preaching of our pastor, the wonderful music of our musician, and the devout worship of those gathered beyond the four walls and roof that keep the work of God’s people otherwise constrained. Those for whom travel, weather, or health prevents their getting out and mingling are able to join us for worship, adding their prayers and voices to those who ARE able to gather in person.

I have been feeling restless, however; two years of captivity has gotten me down. I am ready to break those chains that have kept me toiling (with nary a break) in the cotton field they call the Organ Loft. Two years. Can you believe it?

I found myself grumpily groaning about laboring through two years of (mostly self-imposed) isolation and confinement. But then our deacon, Dennis Taylor, got up to speak. He was the preacher, and he referenced our two years struggling with the pandemic, and compared it to the forty-seven years the Children of Israel were held captive in Babylon. Oof. That put things into perspective, didn’t it?

The trouble with my brain, though, is it doesn’t stop when it gets a thought (although it often cramps up). I looked at those decades of captivity and compared them to 246 years of American slavery (and another seventy-five years of Jim Crow). Hmmm.

It would be easy to feel guilty or regret (and those would not be inappropriate or uncalled for). It is important to look at our lives (individually, and as Americans) and ask what, if anything, we can do better, make amends when and where it is warranted, and find ways to move forward without trampling on those around us. It is important to ask those who have been oppressed what THEY think they need for reparation. Otherwise it is too easy for us to try to get off the hook with a simple, “Sorry” (and expect them to be satisfied with that).

In some ways, it’s awkward, of course. Have you ever gone down an aisle at the store and you and a person coming the other way try to find a way past? Sometimes it works smoothly, and other times the two of you will engage in a dance you haven’t rehearsed until you’re able to magically switch places and continue with your shopping.

Life is like that. I am sure that most of us mean to do the best we can to be honest, open, and flexible, and yet we get to a spot where it seems everybody is trying to move in differing directions, and instead of dancing our way out of trouble, we turn it into a competition. We’d rather fight over who has the right of way than yielding to the Spirit of peace and cooperation.

I have no desire to be a slave, except a slave to the One who said, “Blessed are the poor … blessed are the peacemakers … blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness … blessed are they who mourn …” 

I’ll admit I struggle with what Jesus said. I have an echo chamber where my ego’s line “Don’t let people walk all over you” competes with his, “turn the other cheek” and “go the extra mile.” There are people who cheerfully take advantage of God’s multi-cheeked children. It’s a struggle, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try.

Lama Surya Das says, “If it looks like wisdom but is unkind, it’s not wisdom.” My job isn’t to get my way, nor is it to be a doormat (and thereby growing a fine crop of resentments), but to change my trudging into a dance where more of us can reach the promised land over time. 

May God break our chains so that we all may dance more freely here in this, our valley.

Keith Axberg writes on matters concerning life and faith. Author of newly released: Who the Blazes is Jesus? Good News for a Vulgar World (available through Amazon in Print and e-book)