Epiphany 4A
It is “Saturday Night at the Movies”
on TV Ontario. My family gathers around
our black and white TV to be swept away to another time. My favourite old movies were those that
included dancing, waltzing to be specific.
The scene began with the orchestra
setting their bows on the strings ready to play Strauss or Tchaikovsky: the
bass played a solid note with the violas following with two quicker higher
notes, then the rest of the orchestra would fill in the melody movements over
top.
Dancers would take to the floor of a
grand ball room: a man offering his hand to a lady dressed in satin long satin
gloves, puffy dresses, and beautiful jewellery. They would walk onto the dance
floor, position themselves, pause...then move starting on the solid bass note,
moving in a circular motion around the floor.
The other couples also danced in a circular motion around the
ballroom. The camera would pan up so the
movie goer would see the whole floor of dancers moving as one around the room;
no one bumping into each other, or going the wrong direction, moving as a
unit...getting faster and faster as the orchestra worked through the variations
of the theme. Breathtaking.
I remember lots of waltzing in the
movies. Everyone knew how to waltz: the rich, the poor, young, and old,
urbanites and cowpokes.
It is “Sunday Morning
at the Church”. We gather around the
black and white words printed in scripture to be swept away to another
time. My favourite old passages are
those that include prophecy, memorable prophecy to be specific.
The scene begins with the Lord ready
to speak at the heavenly court; a divine lawsuit is about to be underway. The Lord speaks a solid bass note with the
prophet replying with two quicker words; the Lord speaks another solid bass
note with two quicker verses directed at a spokesperson for the community; then
bottom note moves to the prophet Micah whose bass note is a bold solid question
to the people, followed by two supporting questions...
And then comes the drawing together
of the variations presented in the waltz:
do justice, love kindness, walk humbly with God. _DAdada,
DAdada_ DA dada_ do justice, love kindness, walk humbly ....
The characters in the dance presented
are of great importance.
Micah, in his judgemental tone,
addresses his disdain towards Jerusalem and its religious leaders, whom he sees
as corrupt and pretensious. Whereas the supposed Holy City holds to the
kingship of David and speaks of religious traditions upholding Abraham, Isaac,
and Jacob who are mentioned over and over again in scripture, as in the God of
Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob, most of the characters mentioned
by Micah are not mentioned in religious rituals and in scripture not outside of
the initial telling of their stories.
Moses – if one remembers was a
murder, as an outlaw he goes to look after his father-in-law’s sheep, he
stutters such that he won’t go to pharaoh without Aaron as a sidekick
Aaron- is a religious leader before
a permanent temple is built. He, along
with his sister Miriam, find fault with Moses when he marries a Cushite wife
Miriam – a woman, leads the people
in song, she had saved Moses by placing him in a basket among the reeds
King Balaak who is Moabite (not of
the people) who conscribes Balaam to use his gifts to curse their enemies;
where in travelling Balaam is unable to see the angel of the Lord, beats his
donkey, and in the end blesses people at God’s behest.
Shittim to Gilgal represent ancient
Israelite religious centres set up in a place of landlessness on the edge of
the Jordan River, in Joshua it is from these sites that the people of Israel
move across the Jordan to be a settled people.
Micah is expressing the
inclusiveness of the Lord’s requirements.
His list of historical memories is to signify all people --- there is no
excuse for not participating in the Lord’s request. It is not just for the people of Jerusalem
and the priests of the time. The Lord’s
request is to priests without temples, those who stutter, women, people who
curse or beat their donkeys, for people of other nations, for the landless and
the soon to be settled, nobodys and everybodys.
I return to the waltz. For the movie scene to be epic, it requires a
room of people --- a variety of people --- to dance in couples in the midst of
a whole bunch of other couples; moving together in circular motion at the same
speed, in the same direction, with the same purpose, all contributing to the
overall ballroom waltz experience. All
it would take is one couple to start jiving or to stand still, or to walk away
and the whole dance floor would be interrupted
--- tripping over each other, stopping the movement, chaos in-suing.
Micah is saying that everyone has a
place, everyone has been given a direction, there are no excuses: everyone is
to participate in what God is doing in the world --- the requirement is to
dance: justice, kindness, humility.
This past week folk legend Pete
Seeger passed away; 94 years of age. The newspaper recalled an interview with
him following the Manhattan Occupy Movement march of 2011. He walked in the front line of the
march. He told the Associated
Press, “Be wary of great leaders. Hope
that there are many, many small leaders.”
The words of the Lord, put into the mouth of Micah, centuries later
repeated by Seeger.
Pete is a good example of waltzing
in the fulfillment of the word’s of the Lord; the fulfillment of God’s vision
and promises. He was an example to many
generations of North Americans, instructing people how to effect change through
song and determination.
He was a simple man with a banjo,
who with this gift was a history-sifting singer, and an ever-so-gentle rabble-rouser. His waltzing voiced discontent of Hitler, the
Vietnam war, nuclear power; the waltz advocated civil rights and environmental
cleanup. The waltz was danced to his
tunes: If I had a Hammer. Turn, Turn, Turn. Where Have all the flowers
Gone.
Change, he believed and lived, was
not in the hands of great leaders, but danced by many, many small leaders. Anybody –nobodies, everybodies - can be small
leaders.
Hearing a waltz transports me back
to the days of watching black and white movies. I enter the dreams I use to
have of me --- decked in satin gloves, with a dark green velvet dress with
satin panels, hair wrapped up with pearl hairpins --- my partner would take my
hand, we would take our spot on the dance floor, pause – and then waltz _DA
dada, DA dada, DA dada_ as the variations would move along we would move faster
and faster, as other dancers filled the floor contentment would spread, energy
would rise, and the experience was exhilarating -epic. And when it was done, as exhausted as one
might have felt, you wanted to do it all over again.
Is that not what the Lord requires
of us? Is that not what the words of
Micah are calling us to this morning? A way of waltzing through life? --- do justice, love kindness, walk humbly:
do justice, love kindness, walk humbly --- as all of us join the orchestra,
dancing in a myriad of variations, the Spirit in our midst conducting the scene
in the grand ballroom of life, we actively participate in God’s waltz. I extend a preverbial satin gloved hand,
inviting you to dance with me for the contentment of ourselves, for the healing
of the community, for the energy of the world, for the experience of and the
fulfillment of God’s vision, God’s reign come. Exhilarating –epic!
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