The Theology of Dance

I use to hate dancing. I use to make fun of people who "JUST HAD TO DANCE!" Dancing was always funny to me, and I had always equated it with shallow weekends and guys with top shirt buttons down to reveal their chest hair and golden chains. I don't know why. Over the past several months, though, I have realized the beauty of dancing.
A few weeks ago, I attended the Tim and Courtney Fair wedding. They are both good friends of mine, and we enjoyed the weekend of celebration with one another. The wedding was beautiful. In fact, I've never seen a wedding that had a set design with lighting before. I though it was really great.
It was a morning wedding, and the reception was in the early afternoon. Now, I live in Knoxville away from some of my dearest friends in the world. There are a few of us who remain close to each other, and we have a lot of fun. However, we always miss the rest of our group. Within the first five minutes of seeing each other it is always a celebration. Things get borderline dangerous, because we feed off one another's energy.
So, at this reception, we ate some roast that was bigger than my face, and there were beautiful toasts given, with lovely music playing.

Then...came the dance...

There have been fewer more joyful moments in my life than when my dearest of friends gathered in a circle to dance to "Isn't She Lovely" or "Oh What a Night." I ended up on the floor and on people's shoulders. The DJ said that he had never seen a wedding in the afternoon that was not serving alcohol which was more riled up. We were sweaty and gross, but we had a reason to celebrate, so we danced. Celebration equaled dance. It just had to be so.
In the Church today, we overlook dancing so much. In Biblical times and in our world today, dancing happens when there is joy or celebration. I don't know why God made us with bodies that would start to convulse and sway and shake when we are excited.

I don't know what connection happens between a beat and a body movement. But we must not sit still. Our bodies must move.
I believe we have labeled dancing as sinful or eccentric in the Church while the beat of God is playing. We must not be still. Our bodies must move.

We are killing the natural desire our physical bodies have to move to the music. And we are stifling God's tune in our hearts, keeping our bodies from joining in on the dance. The music is always playing, and the drums are always beating. However, we allow the grinding gears of our pain and stress to drown out the melody. Can we strain our ears again, and tune into the sound of God's song. And then...dance.
Dance, my friends. Don't be critical of these movements, and don't be bashful. Our bodies must move in the moments of celebration. We, above all people, have reason to party. Let's move.