Turn, Turn, Turn, 4

For everything there is a season,

and a time to every purpose under heaven.

A time to weep and a time to laugh,

A time to mourn and a time to dance.

Ecclesiastes 3:1,4

I was born dancing, I think – or at least I began dancing at a very early age.  When I was four years old, my mother started me in dance and tumbling classes.  I loved tap dancing, tolerated jazz and modern dance, and enjoyed ballet very much.  I trained in dance from that early age until I was almost twelve.

At that point in my life, my mother joined a church with fundamentalist tendencies that declared that dancing was a sin.  In due course, my dancing and gymnastics lessons disappeared – lest I be corrupted by something I had joyfully participated in for the previous eight years.  It was a classic example of throwing the baby out with the bathwater.  Satan can and has corrupted many of God’s gifts to the human race.  Discarding of them wholesale is an easy way to “control” one’s temptations, but who gets to pick and choose what we throw out and what we don’t?

I no longer believe dancing is a “sin.”  I believe there will be dancing in heaven.  I believe there will be joyous movement to music in praise of our Creator. Here on earth, there will always be a Herodias in the crowd to turn dance into a sleazy mating ritual, but the rest of us need not follow suit. Ecclesiastes clearly states that there is a time to dance.  The Psalms invoke us to praise God with timbrel and dance. I, for one, believe that the Bible means exactly what it says.

I hope you never lose your sense of wonder,
You get your fill to eat, but always keep that hunger.
May you never take one single breath for granted;
God forbid love ever leave you empty-handed.
I hope you still feel small when you stand beside the ocean,
Whenever one door closes, I hope one more opens.
Promise me that you'll give faith a fighting chance,
And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance,

I hope you dance.

I hope you never fear those mountains in the distance,
Never settle for the path of least resistance.
Living might mean taking chances, but they're worth taking.
Loving might be a mistake, but it's worth making.
Don't let some hell-bent heart leave you bitter;

When you come close to selling out – reconsider.

Give the heavens above more than just a passing glance,
And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance,

I hope you dance.