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You know, I remember back when I was confirmation age – middle school – and I remember that one of my favorite things to do was to go to the dances. I’m not quite sure why because I remember that these dances were nothing like you see on Dancing with the Stars. Instead, it was always crowded, hot, very loud music, and always very painful, especially at the beginning. I’d always go in a big group of guy friends and we’d inevitably meet up with another group of all girls, but the two groups would never really mix. We’d each stand on opposite sides of the room, kind of checking each other out, and at least from the guy circle, we’d spend practically the whole night trying to get up enough guts to ask our favorite girl to dance. In reality, very little dancing ever went on. Part of it was fear of rejection – what if the girl said no. Part of it was fear of what might happen if she actually said yes – and I really had no idea how to dance. Part of it was fear of leaving the comfort of the group of guys where it was safe. And probably the biggest part of it was the fear of the long walk to the girls’ circle, knowing the guys were all behind you making fun of you, abandoning you instantly as a fellow guy because you had the guts to do something they didn’t. And the girls were all watching you slowly come closer with fear and trembling in their eyes, “Please Lord, he’s so goofy looking, don’t let him ask me to dance.” To avoid all of this fear and shame, at least in the guys’ group, the whole night long, each of us would be silently praying and hoping that the girl we liked would actually come over and ask us to dance. The whole point of attending these dances and what made them so exciting and outweighed all that fear, was the miniscule chance that that one hot girl that I had a crush on, might actually ask me to dance with her. Happened to me once in all of Middle School – Rachel Young, Valentine’s Dance, 8th grade – and I will never forget it. Today is not Valentine’s Day, so why all this talk about middle school dances? Today is a different, very special day in the church year. It’s called Holy Trinity Sunday and it is the day where we celebrate and ponder the mystery of the Trinity – that God is one God in three persons – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Fancy church theologians will say there is no way to fully accurately describe or understand the Trinity. In fact, Martin Luther once said, “To try to deny the Trinity endangers your salvation, but to try to comprehend the Trinity endangers your sanity.” But the illustration of the Trinity that makes the most sense to me is by using a Greek word, “perichoresis.” It is a form of this word that Jesus uses to describe his relationship to the Father and to the Spirit in the gospel of John, chapters 17 through 19. Technically this words means “constantly indwelling,” and so you can see how Jesus used it – the Father dwells in him, and he dwells in the Spirit, and the Spirit dwells in the Father. Perichoresis. But what I like about this idea for the Trinity is how it has kind of developed into English. It is from this perichoresis where we get our English word, “choreography.” In other words, the Trinity is a God of dance. The Father is dancing with the Son, the Son dancing with the Spirit, the Spirit dancing with the Father. Its this beautiful divine dance of creation, redemption, and salvation – constantly moving and working, complementing and supporting, each with their own moves, yet moving together in one holy dance. Our God is a God that is dancing and salvation is found when we enter that dance with the Trinity – when we find our place dwelling within the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. We have our own moves yet it is all within the one movement of God. Life for us as humans starts like a middle school dance – each of us standing on our own sides of the room, with a wall of sin, shame, and fear separating us. The grace of God comes to us when God decides to make that bold step, makes that long walk across the room, breaks into our little circle and, not knowing how we will respond, God asks us that scary question, “Will you dance with me?” God is the one who comes to us, who makes it so we don’t have to fear rejection or shame, and who is the answer to our little miniscule hope that someone will ask us to dance. Way better than Rachel Young – trust me. And God doesn’t care how you dance – he just wants you to say yes. It was in Baptism, through the waters of that Holy Sacrament where God offers you salvation and says, “__________, I have a crush on you – will you dance with me?” And now, today, each of these Confirmation Students has not disappointed God – they will kneel before him in just a few minutes and say, “Yes, God, I absolutely will dance with you!” That is what confirmation or Affirmation of Baptism is all about – responding to God’s offer of salvation, responding to God’s offer to dance with the Trinity for all eternity. And, yet, today is just one moment in time. Each of us, everyday, gets to choose whether or not we want to dance with the divine. God comes to us every morning and offers his hand and reminds us, “I still have a crush on you, will you dance with me?” Somedays we do – and its so much fun using our gifts, giving away our time our talents our money, helping others and worshipping God. Somedays, we allow other people and things to cut into our dance with God and we move God to the sidelines where he waits impatiently for a time where he can cut back in. Somedays, we will realize how much work dancing really is – following through on commitments, making priorities based on God, choosing God over something else, and working up a sweat. Yet, if you’ve ever had a regular dance partner – you know how much joy there really is in finding your groove, moving together as one, responding to the subtle hints and leads and clues as to what your partner is doing and wants you to do, and even though you may work up a sweat – its an incredible high. Dancing is great joy. Dancing with God is even better. There is no greater high than responding to God, taking his hand, letting him lead you around, working up a sweat, and dancing through life. My friends, my prayer for all of you, especially you confirmands, is this: in the words of Leanne Womack, “I hope you dance.” Amen.
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