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REVISITED: Dance, Baby, Dance

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Read 2 Samuel 6:14-22

ALSO IN SCRIPTURE
You have turned my mourning into joyful dancing. You have taken away my clothes of mourning and clothed me with joy, that I might sing praises to you and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give you thanks forever!

Do you like to dance? I absolutely love to. It is not that I have taken any lessons. I think I took some tap dance lessons when I was a kid, but the only tapping I remember is what I am doing now, on the keyboard. Still, I love to dance. Bring me to a club, take me to concert, bring me to a wedding, and I will inevitably dance it up no matter how I look. I just love to move my body. Besides, is head banging any different really? I love to do both.

Every now and again, including recently, I put together a mix of music to dance. The past two have been centered on darker dance songs. What do I mean by “darker”? That is a great question, for I feel the word “dark” gets used for so many different things that it is important to define. By dark, I mean that the music focuses on deeper, more substantive subjects that relate to the struggles of being human.

These songs can and do dive into different facets of humanity, from depression to anxiety, from loneliness to sexuality. All of these songs are relatable to human life and the struggle it is to be human. Have you ever noticed that. We cling to our lives like precious gems, and they are precious gems; yet, the cost of that is the daily struggle of survival. For some of us that is easier than others, but it is a struggle all the same.

Ask yourself this: “Have I gone through life without a single struggle?” Chances are, you haven’t gone through life unscathed at all. We all have our troubles, our trials, our doubts, our fears, our insecurities. Truthfully, not even Jesus Christ went through life without all of those struggles; therefore, how can any of us expect to do so.

As such, one of the things I have learned to do is to dance through the pain. First, it is hard to feel depressed and troubled when you are moving your body joyously. When I listen to the darker songs, they are expressing my pain lyrically, but the music is carrying me through it, transcending it through exuberant, joyful, and counter-emotional movements. Now, I am able to dance physically and so I do, but dancing need not be merely a physical activity; rather, it can be a spiritual and emotional one too. Put on your favorite music, sing out loud, scream the songs out if you have to. Dance within your heart, your soul, your entire being.

Friends, there is plenty in this world to cause us to want to stop dancing; however, that is when we truly stop living. God created us to dance, to joyfully worship God and to live freely into who we are as God’s children. Whatever your dance is, whatever music it is that makes you want to move, put that on and show the world that it is going to take more than struggles to keep you from rocking and rolling.

If we do that, there will be no telling what God will do with us. Just look at King David who danced, even despite the scorn of his wife, with all his might before the Lord our God. We can do the same too, and we can do so inspite of all that the world throws our way. Sisters and brothers, let us throw off our burdens before the Lord and dance them away, allowing the Lord to fill us with eternal and everlasting joy, a joy the world can never take away.

THOUGHT OF THE DAY
Not today, Satan! Today I dance!

PRAYER
Lord, teach and help me to dance. Amen.

Devotional

Lord of the Dance

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Read 2 Samuel 6:1-5, 12b-19

ALSO IN SCRIPTURE
“But as the Ark of the Lord’s Covenant entered the City of David, Michal, the daughter of Saul, looked down from her window. When she saw King David skipping about and laughing with joy, she was filled with contempt for him” (1 Chronicles 15:29 NLT).

Image created by Rev. Todd R. Lattig with the assistance of Copilot, an AI language model developed by Microsoft and powered by OpenAI.

I love to dance. Really, I do! If there’s music on, you can bet I’ll be moving, regardless of who’s watching. It doesn’t matter if someone drives by my house and sees me grooving to the beat—I’m in my own joyful world. And that’s what I think about when I read about King David dancing before the Lord with all his might.

In our passage today, we see King David, the mighty ruler of Israel, adorned in a linen ephod, dancing with all his might before the Ark of the Covenant as it is brought into the City of David. His heart overflowing with joy and gratitude, he is completely uninhibited in his worship of the Lord.

But amidst the celebration, there is one who watches with disdain—Michal, the daughter of Saul. She cannot fathom why a king would lower himself to such undignified behavior. In her eyes, David’s actions are unbecoming of royalty.

Yet David’s response to Michal’s criticism is a powerful reminder of the heart of true worship. He explains that his dancing is not for the approval of man but for the pleasure of God. David is willing to humble himself, even at the risk of appearing foolish in the eyes of others, because his sole desire is to honor and glorify the Lord.

This passage challenges us to examine our own worship practices. Are we willing to let go of our inhibitions and worship God with all our hearts, regardless of how others might perceive us? Are we more concerned with outward appearances or with offering genuine praise to the One who deserves it?

David’s example also teaches us the importance of embracing the freedom we have in Christ. True worship is not bound by tradition or protocol; it is an expression of the overflow of our love for God. Whether we choose to sing, dance, raise our hands, or simply bow in reverence, what matters most is the sincerity of our hearts.

In 1 Chronicles 15:29, we see a similar instance where David’s unrestrained worship is contrasted with Michal’s disapproval. As the Ark of the Lord’s Covenant entered the City of David, Michal, the daughter of Saul, looked down from her window. When she saw King David skipping about and laughing with joy, she was filled with contempt for him.

This passage further emphasizes the idea that true worship is not about conforming to societal norms or expectations, but about expressing our love for God with authenticity and sincerity. Just as David danced before the Lord with all his might, we too are called to worship God with uninhibited hearts, regardless of the opinions of others.

David’s dance was a spontaneous expression of his deep love and reverence for God. It was not choreographed or rehearsed; it was raw and authentic. Likewise, our worship should flow from the depths of our souls, unfiltered and genuine.

But let’s not overlook the significance of Michal’s reaction. Her disdain for David’s worship serves as a cautionary tale for us. How often do we allow the fear of man to hinder our worship? How many times have we held back our praise because we were worried about what others might think?

As we reflect on David’s example, let’s ask ourselves these questions: Are we willing to be vulnerable before God, laying bare our hearts in worship? Are we willing to let go of our pride and self-consciousness, surrendering fully to the One who deserves our utmost devotion?

THOUGHT OF THE DAY
True worship is not about impressing others but about expressing our love for God with sincerity and authenticity.

PRAYER
Lord, help us to worship You with all our hearts, unashamed and uninhibited. May our praise be pleasing to You, and may it draw us closer to Your heart. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Devotion written by Rev. Todd R. Lattig with the assistance of ChatGPT, an AI language model developed by OpenAI.

Devotional

Dance, Baby, Dance

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Read 2 Samuel 6:14-22

ALSO IN SCRIPTURE
You have turned my mourning into joyful dancing. You have taken away my clothes of mourning and clothed me with joy, that I might sing praises to you and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give you thanks forever!

Do you like to dance? I absolutely love to. It is not that I have taken any lessons. I think I took some tap dance lessons when I was a kid, but the only tapping I remember is what I am doing now, on the keyboard. Still, I love to dance. Bring me to a club, take me to concert, bring me to a wedding, and I will inevitably dance it up no matter how I look. I just love to move my body. Besides, is head banging any different really? I love to do both.

Every now and again, including recently, I put together a mix of music to dance. The past two have been centered on darker dance songs. What do I mean by “darker”? That is a great question, for I feel the word “dark” gets used for so many different things that it is important to define. By dark, I mean that the music focuses on deeper, more substantive subjects that relate to the struggles of being human.

These songs can and do dive into different facets of humanity, from depression to anxiety, from loneliness to sexuality. All of these songs are relatable to human life and the struggle it is to be human. Have you ever noticed that. We cling to our lives like precious gems, and they are precious gems; yet, the cost of that is the daily struggle of survival. For some of us that is easier than others, but it is a struggle all the same.

Ask yourself this: “Have I gone through life without a single struggle?” Chances are, you haven’t gone through life unscathed at all. We all have our troubles, our trials, our doubts, our fears, our insecurities. Truthfully, not even Jesus Christ went through life without all of those struggles; therefore, how can any of us expect to do so.

As such, one of the things I have learned to do is to dance through the pain. First, it is hard to feel depressed and troubled when you are moving your body joyously. When I listen to the darker songs, they are expressing my pain lyrically, but the music is carrying me through it, transcending it through exuberant, joyful, and counter-emotional movements. Now, I am able to dance physically and so I do, but dancing need not be merely a physical activity; rather, it can be a spiritual and emotional one too. Put on your favorite music, sing out loud, scream the songs out if you have to. Dance within your heart, your soul, your entire being.

Friends, there is plenty in this world to cause us to want to stop dancing; however, that is when we truly stop living. God created us to dance, to joyfully worship God and to live freely into who we are as God’s children. Whatever your dance is, whatever music it is that makes you want to move, put that on and show the world that it is going to take more than struggles to keep you from rocking and rolling.

If we do that, there will be no telling what God will do with us. Just look at King David who danced, even despite the scorn of his wife, with all his might before the Lord our God. We can do the same too, and we can do so inspite of all that the world throws our way. Sisters and brothers, let us throw off our burdens before the Lord and dance them away, allowing the Lord to fill us with eternal and everlasting joy, a joy the world can never take away.

THOUGHT OF THE DAY
Not today, Satan! Today I dance!

PRAYER
Lord, teach and help me to dance. Amen.

Devotional

Lord of the Dance

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Read 2 Samuel 6:16-22          

ALSO IN SCRIPTURE
“And David danced before the Lord with all his might, wearing a priestly garment. So David and all the people of Israel brought up the Ark of the Lord with shouts of joy and the blowing of rams’ horns.”

I have always loved dancing and the physical bodily expression of music…art. That is perhaps why the hymn, Lord of the Dance, has always been one of my more favorite hymns. Here’s are some of my favorite parts of the hymn:

“I danced on the Sabbath and I cured the lame; the holy people said it was a shame. They whipped and they stripped and they hung me on high, and they left me there on a Cross to die…

“I danced on a Friday when the sky turned black; it’s hard to dance with the devil on your back. they buried my body and they thought I’d gone, but I am the Dance, and I still go on…

“They cut me down and I leapt up high; I am the life that’ll never, never die; I’ll live in you if you’ll live in me – I am the Lord of the Dance, said he…

“Dance, then, wherever you may be, I am the Lord of the Dance, said he, and I’ll lead you all, wherever you may be, and I’ll lead you all in the Dance, said he.”

Recently, I rewatched the 2022 film, ELVIS, as I love a good rock biopic and ELVIS is an extraordinary rock biopic. Seriously, if you have not watched it, you should do so now, even though I am not going to give any big spoilers in this at all. You know me, I run a tight no-spoiler ship. I promise you though, the film will shed light on things you probably did not know about Elvis, and one of those will be discussed in this devotion. Reader be warned.

We all know “Elvis the Pelvis”, which the King of Rock himself thought was a rather juvenile jab at his style of dancing and gyrating across the stage. Most people know that he was known for such dancing, and that parents weren’t all that happy to see their teenage sons and especially daughters embracing his behavior. Most of us “remember” whether we were alive to see it at the time or not, Elvis not being shown from the hips down so that television stations didn’t get fined by the FCC for lewd and inappropriate content.

Here, on the other hand, is what you might not have known. From 1953 to 1958, Elvis was doing something very radical and forward for his time. He was taking black Rhythm and Blues songs, making them up-tempo, and recording them. Elvis had a kind of voice that made people initially think he was a black singer; however, news quickly came out that this was a white boy singing black songs. The black community at the time, for the most part, embraced him; however, the white community did not in the slightest.

When Elvis broke out on the National stage in 1956, he was immediately hit with controversy. Parents were outraged that their children were watching him move his hips the way that he was. Yes, they were upset with sexual implications of the movements; however, that is not at the heart of why they were upset. The idea of their children being influenced, or perverted as they would have called it, by black culture what not acceptable or appropriate to most white people at the time.

What’s more, to further prove the point, Elvis was creating modern “rock and roll” out of black rhythm and blues while Civil Rights Activists were pushing for the Segregation laws to be lifted across the country and for blacks to be integrated with whites. In just 8 years, segregation would be no more…and integration was implemented. The bizarre and sinful white societal fear of white children getting corrupted by black culture was very real and, let’s be honest, it still is today (e.g. look at white culture’s’ reaction to Hip-Hop, Gangsta Rap, and other current forms of black music.

But Elvis kept on dancing despite of it. At one point he was convinced to not dance; however, that was short lived. The boy just couldn’t help himself. He didn’t just sing music, he felt it, embodied it, and performed it with his very being. Why? Well, first off, Elvis had tremendous stage fright and dancing took his mind off of his anxiety. It was an outlet for it – a release. Also, he grew up in the black community because his parents were too poor to live in the white community.

So, he was a victim of classism growing up and that led to him being segregated along with the blacks. His friends were mostly black as there were only 4 white kids on that side of town. What’s more, he grew up in the black, Pentecostal church. Meaning, he learned how to dance and gyrate from church; except, in church we of faith know this as being “moved by the Spirit.” It was an expression of his deep religious faith, which Elvis had his whole life, despite his personal struggles.

So, while “good Christian” white folks were complaining about Elvis’ moves, he was just doing what the Good Lord gifted him, through the Holy Spirit, to do. Now, I am not saying that it wasn’t sexual or anything like that. For the time, it would have been a shocker to any parent with or without the racial reasons; however, the racial reasons cannot be dismissed or denied.

What’s more, it also cannot be denied that God loves dancing. Look at how King David brought glory to God after conquering Jerusalem…Wait a minute, wasn’t it through dancing through its streets angering his wife because she thought that sort of wild behavior was beneath a king? Yet, David danced onward, and did not heed the criticism of his wife or others who thought he was embarrassing or inappropriate, just as Elvis kept dancing despite the controversy.

Friends, as the hymn suggests, Jesus is the very Lord of the Dance. He is the one who turns the water into wine at a dance-filled wedding reception. He is the one who laughs and plays with the children, who causes the crippled to leap on two legs, and the blind to see where the dance floor is. Our whole lives are a dance and we should not be afraid move around as the Spirit leads!  Jesus is the Lord of the Dance and we should celebrate and honor God through our dance and through our very being. I believe, despite the controversies and personal struggles, Elvis did that and I believe we all should be doing that as well!

THOUGHT OF THE DAY
“I ain’t no saint, but I’ve tried never to do anything that would hurt my family or offend God…I figure all any kid needs is hope and the feeling he or she belongs. If I could do or say anything that would give some kid that feeling, I would believe I had contributed something to the world.” – Elvis Presley, 1950s

PRAYER
Lord, help me to learn to dance for you in all that I do, and to not be afraid to show my joy and delight in you! Amen.