“Daring to Dance with God”

JEFF Walling in his book says: “And what is it like to dance with God?  Dancing with God is allowing Him to take our breath away as He whirls us through the dark and light places that life leads us. It is relaxing into His embrace and trusting fully in His strong arms.  It is releasing the power of the Spirit within us to give us joy beyond measure.  It is revelling in the unexpected and celebrating the divine surprise that is each new day.  It is rejoicing out loud at the grace and beauty God provides and ignoring the calls of the crowd to sit down and quit grinning.  But above all else, dancing with God is learning to let go.” 

What do we need to let go of?

Let go of guilt – Guilt has an important function- to alert us when we have ‘missed the mark’, when we have hurt someone, when we have been untrue to ourselves….

But guilt is not meant to be a permanent condition…let guilt do its role and then…let go of guilt!

Let go of resentment - resentment is like eating something that really disagrees with you and just can’t digest!  But how to let go?  It’s almost like removing a thorn stuck in our flesh, we have to consider it; where it came from, what it is doing to us and how do we get rid of it.

Let go of anger – The bible tells us “be angry but sin not”. That is not easy. When we are really angry, we actually don’t care if we are sinning.  It’s like an exploding volcano! However, anger has a function. Again, inner dialogue can be helpful…we can ask ourselves “Why am I so angry?”   Perhaps our anger is alerting ourselves to something that needs to stop, or to be put right. Perhaps it is a wound from the past that has been prodded. Perhaps it is biological- a physical issue expressing itself in anger.

In essence, let these negative emotions, events, hurts, disappointments be recognized and then released so that we can be free to Dance with God….

Inconsolable Longing

Introduction:  Some years ago, a man made a significant statement after he had won the world title in body building. He said that he had money and fame – he was on the top, the pinnacle of his career, but it did not satisfy a hunger in his heart.

St Augustine said, “Our souls are restless until we find our rest in Thee”. An inconsolable longing in us…..

• A longing that money cannot satisfy… how much? - --just a little more, never enough.

• A longing that fame cannot satisfy... famous, rich people committing suicide e.g. Marilyn Monroe died of an overdose of barbiturates. She was only 36 years old!

• A longing that pleasure-seeking cannot appease, similar to the law of diminishing returns (“law of diminishing returns ‘any rate of profit, production, benefits, etc., that beyond a certain point fails to increase proportionately with added investment, effort, or skill.”)

• A longing that human companionship and love cannot appease… (my wife/husband /children/friends don’t always understand me, even though they love me)

In every human being, whether we are aware of it or not, there is a deep longing, an inconsolable longing and this has been there since the beginning of time.

I would like to explore, with you, this deep longing, this yearning in two ways; Inconsolable longing in history and an awareness of our own personal journey.

THE JOURNEY OF HUMANKIND: We have moved through various stages; one author defined them as - The magical stage, the materialistic stage, and the mystical stage.

In the magical stage people were aware that there was a powerful spiritual force and because they had no knowledge or insight they feared this ‘force’ and this gave rise to many taboos, rituals and sacrifices, for example, In Mexico before the Spanish conquest in the 16th century, the Aztecs offered human sacrifices to the sun god, a practice that took as many as 20,000 lives a year (Funk & Wagnalls Encyclopaedia, vol 23, p 60). An awareness of God but did not know him and therefore feared Him.

The magical stage gave way to the materialistic stage where people rejected anything that they could not prove. This was tragically emphasized by the astronaut who claimed that he had been out in space and saw no sign of God. The materialistic view -I cannot see or prove it, therefore, it does not exist. We are still emerging from this stage at present and, to a certain degree, we are still locked into this belief.

The mystical stage has emerged because the hunger for transcendence has been suppressed. There is a deep, and often not acknowledged, hunger for meaning, and meaningful contact with our Creator. Our spirits are rebelling against the lack of recognition and acknowledgement of our souls. Out of this hunger various spiritual practices have emerged; some have led to authentic, deep and life-enriching belief systems; however, many have been seduced into harmful teachings and practices.

What are you and I longing for in the depth of our being?

Discovering Who You Are…

Searching questions that reveal your character:                                                   

1. Who are your hero’s?

2. What are the important things to know about somebody else?

3. If you could write your own epitaph, what would it be?

4. If your last words were to be remembered, what would they be?

5. What is the quality of your anger? Your tears? Your loneliness?

6. What is the quality of your moral indignation?    

7. If you had three wishes, what would you wish for?

8. What are the hungers of your heart?

9. What is it you rather die than do?

10. What are your incentives for living?

11. What is your favourite text in the bible? Or quote from a book?

12. What do you personify? What have you become?

Remember the  song “Getting to know you, getting to like you..”? I hope that these questions help us to understand, accept and love ourselves.

I See You

The movie Avatar was captivating on so many levels but something that stayed with me was the phrase “I see you”.

I have noticed something significant in this regard in recent years; people do not seem to want connection. Let me give an example; when I was travelling on public transport e.g. busses or trains, people did not interact. It was as if each was in their own world and did not welcome any connection at all. It was as if all others were invisible.

I also feel invisible because of my own reticence. I am not a forthright person. I was trained to be a listener and although I am not unfamiliar with public speaking, I do not feel comfortable to be centre stage, even in small gatherings.

However, there have been the rare and wonderful people who have crossed my path and they have given me a gift of … “I see you”

Richard Rohr in his book “Things Hidden” speaks about the many insecure people today who have no real, solid self-concept and they will take on any external persona. This is very evident in people mimicking the characters in movies etc. He speaks of it as a type of “possession”. They are not themselves. This can range from the manner of speaking to a more serious ‘take over’ of the whole personality. He says, “But one way to think of ‘being possessed’ is when there is an unhealthy other who is defining you and defining you poorly”. (1)

The role of trauma is also significant. The abused can become the abuser. The dramatic story of Jesus healing the madman of Gadara is an interesting case in point. (2) He was in chains because he had become too dangerous. Tormented! Jesus asked one question “What is your name?” A key to his madness was the name he had given himself “Legion”. The classical interpretation was that he was possessed by many demons. This was a way of explaining it in ancient times. But the fact that Jesus pinpointed this “name” is significant. He saw where this man’s agony originated. Let me unpack this a little further; at that time, the Roman Legions terrorized that whole area. Perhaps as a child he witnessed immense brutality and had no way to disassemble it…. it possessed him. He became “it”. Jesus “saw” him, saw his agony, saw his struggle, and the man returned to his right mind.

I’m sure that you and I, and all people, long for the gift of someone “seeing” us. And may we have the grace to “see” others.

(1) “Things Hidden” by Richard Rohr. Published by Franciscan Media Cincinnati wwwFranciscanMedia.org. pg 99-61

(2) “Disciple’s Study Bible” New International version. Luke 5:1-5