The Beloved Dance

And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever-- the Spirit of truth. [...]
On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you.
-Jesus, John 14:16, 20

I've been thinking about dancing. This is in part because my daughter made Cake Pops last night (with help from Bethany), and before my boys could have a second one, I made them dance across the room to K-Pop music (because: Cake Pop---K-Pop. Get it?).  But also, we're in a theatre stretch right now as my wife performs the Sound of Music, and there is a ballroom dance scene that I've enjoyed watching. You see, Bethany and I have really different dancing styles. Hers is rhythmic and smooth and beautiful. My style defies labels. Simply put: I make other dancers look really good. 

The thing that I like about dancing is that it brings us into movement and joy with others. Dancing (sometimes) involves shared movement, cooperation, and participation. And as such, it lends itself to some powerful spiritual imagery. 

The ancient mothers and fathers of the faith understood that God's oneness dwells in community through the image of father, son, and spirit. But they understood that this Trinitarian relationship was a beautiful mystery, not as static and disconnected as modern Christians tend to view it. They saw it as active. Like a dance. 

So for nearly 1500 years, we've had a word to describe this way that God's self interweaves in community. Perichoresis.

In that Greek word you can hear the meaning. "Peri," where we get words like "perimeter," and "choresis,"  where we get "choreography."
Literally, the word describes God as community, dancing in a circle. It's oneness, yet also cooperative, graceful movement. There is beauty to it all. It's sometimes called The Beloved Dance. 

And as this imagery took root, those same Christian fathers and mothers began to talk of life with God in a similarly profound way. They looked at the scriptures and said that life with God (salvation) looks like people being invited into this dance. We are drawn into the very relationship that the Father, Son and Spirit share. And as a result, we are also drawn into their shared purpose in the world. 

A dance is an interesting image for participating in life with God, isn't it? 

Dancing with God feels very different image than completing a list of errands. It hits differently than a task-oriented faith. We dance with God, joyfully drawn into the relationship with such movement and shared identity that we become new beings. We become full of God's deep value, bursting with the shared love of God. As a result, we become ready to express ourselves freely, continuing the dance and continuing to invite more people into the beauty of God's spacious love and kingdom.

You are in Christ, and Christ is in you. You have the Holy Spirit within you, yet you also look for where the Spirit is at work around the world. The joy and peace of God's very self is available to you. This is living in the divine dance. 

CS Lewis inspires me with his words about how central this mystery is for us in his book, Mere Christianity: 
The whole dance, or drama, or pattern of this three-Personal life is to be played out in each one of us [...] each one of us has got to enter that pattern, take his place in the dance. There is no other way to the happiness for which we were made … Once a man is united to God, how could he not live forever? … But how is he to be united to God? How is it possible for us to be taken into the three-Personal life? … Now the whole offer which Christianity makes is this: that we can, if we let God have His way, come to share in the life of Christ."

I'm feeling like it's time to claim some fresh metaphors for discipleship, and this one is actually so old that it's new again. Consider today, how is God drawing you to join in the dance? 

Jesus, draw me into the shared identity and the shared movement that you have with the Father and the Spirit. I want to live in and live out of that love.

Peace,
Keith

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