Summer
I love summer. It's a time for vacations. And if you ever wondered where vacations came from, read about it! We can thank the Methodists and physicians in particular for its U.S. form, but we have the Greeks and the Jews to thank in particular for the consecration of leisure as essential to being human.
Interlude
Seemingly unrelated to theology is my recent obsession with the Iowa-esque dance-song, Interlude, by Attack Attack.
I love dance, though I am, as my kids would say, a "Fail" when it comes to artful dancing. So, imagine when I crank this song early in the a.m. at home and start at it, my feet thundering on the floor in graceless thuds.
Good aerobics, good cardio-vascular, good Mass preparation.
One of the reasons I love dance is for its sheer uselessness. Oh, I realize that it has psycho-somatic benefits. But, just like liturgy, it courts the spontaneity and wonder of unproductive 'play'. Play: a sheer joy and celebration of existence, where freedom can lead imagination and thought unfettered into a choreographed creativity and exploration within the vast expanses of the true and the good and the beautiful. In play the dramatic nature of existence - with its joy and sorrow, laughter and lament, violence and gentleness, labor and rest, virtue and vice - is rehearsed and performed in playful abandon.
Play is re-creation, as it participates in the sheer just-because act of God who created the cosmos ex nihilo out of the unfettered freedom of sheer joy and love; and re-deemed that same cosmos out of that same sheer-motive.
David totally got this liturgical aspect of dance, to Michal's chagrin. The Son of David, who stripped himself of glory when he entered the Ark of the Covenant, was greeted by the dance of the Baptist in his mother's womb.
But at Mass we need not stick dance moves into the ritual - the ritual is already highly stylized and crafted as a choreographed dance.
The Eritreans really understand this - they have grace-full rubrics that make clerics poetry-in-motion. Same with the Orthodox Dance of Isaiah, done at weddings and baptisms.
And we Latin Rite Catholics can dance our rubrics and rituals well if we know how to play before the Lord. As an AME pastor said to me once after he attended the Easter Vigil: "You Catholics got all the moves, you just gotta loosen up!"
Whew
All that from Interlude.
Dance!
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As pertains to dance, check out this Des Moines area opportunity: http://www.swingdesmoines.com/jivejunction.html
ReplyDelete:-) I knew you would say that!!
ReplyDeleteA great THANK YOU for the Methodist and physicians establishing a precedent for vacation! This time when activity is suspended benefits the body and soul. Dancing [more generically movement] is a wonderful way to express joy as we remove ourselves from the labor. Imagine the dancing joy which will ensue in the heavenly presence of Jesus? A simple expression of joy becomes a continuous feast.
ReplyDeleteThe Mass has this joyful movement of dance – standing for prayer, kneeling in reverence or sitting for contemplative listening of the Scriptures. A silent, reflective vacation experienced rather than toil of every day life.
Unofficially a member of the Catholic Charismatic movement, I occasionally take pleasure in dancing on the wind of the Holy Spirit in prayer. Conversely, sitting before the Blessed Sacrament my body is still, yet my spirit rocks with quiet pleasure being with Jesus in silence.
So, yes, Catholics should dance often and utilize the many forms of movement already embedded her liturgy, sacramental celebrations and prayers. In this dancing recall today’s Responsorial Psalm and “remember the marvels the Lord has done”. Similar to the marvel experienced by Paul and Silas as they danced in praise of God from prison to freedom. May our dancing create the same earthquake in our spirit and lead us out of the things that spiritually imprison our soul.
As ever, a lovely expansion on this Blog entry. Sitting with a rocking spirit is a stunning image. Let us marvel with Beads2Rosaries!
ReplyDeleteI do as the Lord allows me to express and spread the Gospel of Our Lord!
ReplyDeleteWonderful reflection aside..that Interlude dance is ridiculously fun and I'm glad to have some new moves to break out other than the funky chicken at any upcoming weddings.
ReplyDelete:-) LC: You make me smile, as ever!
ReplyDelete