rhythm

I just finished watching the movie "Shall We Dance" and it has me thinking. So I'll get on with this... Since you're reading this, you likely know me. But if you don't know me, you should know that I'm not the most coordinated guy in the world. Dance is not my forte. And I don't exactly exude sensuality. Hmmmmmm. Yet there is something in me, in fact, there is something in us all that beats with the rhythm of this life.

We watch "Shall We Dance" or "Dancing with the Stars" or even MTV and we are somehow moved. We want to sing, we want to dance, we want to share in the pulse of culture. Sure it's natural to want to tap your toe to a catchy tune, but I think there may be something much deeper than a bass drum that gets us going. I think that there is a rhythm.. a flow to this life that is in tune with an extracosmic source- namely God.

Whether you believe it was thousands or billions of years ago, God at one time set all things into motion. There, in the formlessness of pre-time, He started a song. Yes, I believe that God is a poet- a songwriter, if you will. God started everything off slowly, almost waltz-like, by speaking his Word and letting his Spirit dance over the deep. Ever notice how dancers, the really great ones, seem to float? You could say they almost hover about the dancefloor. Anyway... God strikes up the band and begins this supernatural dance. Like any great band leader, better than Goodman or Miller or Welk, God moves things along in perfect timing... and it was good (He said so.) But what is music if there is no one to jump, jive, and wail? What good is a beat if there is nothing to move? So God created the first dancer. He was good. Naked, and good. He was as close to perfect as any mere man could be. This man moved gracefully in time with the measure and rhyme of the holy will. But there was a need. A dancer must have a partner. Man and woman, dancing together in the idyllic garden to the sweet melody of beauty and life and God, what could be more perfect? (God is romantic, He must be.) This is the way life is intended to be. We live in harmony with each other and move in tune with the will of the Creator and we worship him with each step we take as we dance to the song He sings over us. Do you realize that even the mountains and the trees and the whole of the earth sings praise to God on High? This is how life is supposed to be. But it just isn't is it?

Those first dancers- the ones in the Garden- tripped. They stumbled and lost the beat of the music amidst the clanging clatter of their own passions. Those original dancers were thrown out of the garden and forgot the steps to the dance. This is how the world continued on for generations. People feel a beat inside of them. They write song after song, all in vain. They dance dances that they think are new, but there is indeed nothing new under the sun. We all stumble about in the disturbing dissonance of darkness until there came something new. No, not new at all, just unfamiliar. The Creator of the song came to dwell with us to dance for us and with us and teach us again the steps to the dance. He came and made all things new. He took from us the responsibility for the missed steps and gave to us the freedom of a song that is both new and old simultaneously. It's a Jesus Remix of sorts. All it takes to join in the dance is to let the Lord of that Dance lead you. I'm not talking about Michael Flatley here. Seriously. Why are you still flailing about in the shadows? It's time to step onto the floor... into the spotlight... and join in the dance of the ages.