Easter and Dancing

I know I know...I'm horrible about blog consistency. Oh well. I have truly been meaning to post something...but everyone else has so many interesting things to say that I am distracted from my own blog.

I have been thinking a lot about Holy Week...it seems everyone is posting something related to Easter. I read many of these posts with great interest. I know little of Lent, Stations of the Cross, Passover, and all the other terminology I come across in blogs during this time of year. So much of it is mysterious to me, I understand the Biblical significance of these things, but I have little or no first-hand knowledge of them. I love to learn about such things that I have rarely or never experienced in my faith.

It's interesting...I remember going to church with my Catholic girlfriend in High School and having to ask her what the bowl of water and candles were for. I had never seen incense and never knelt during church. There was so much I didn't understand about Mass that she was shocked. So I had to take her to my modern charismatic church the next week, just so she could ask me what the hand-raising was about, what the "infilling of the Holy Spirit" meant, and why we didn't take Communion every Sunday (one of the many downsides of the mega-church, of course, is that it takes 30 minutes to administer Communion to thousands of people...so we had special once-a-month self-serve Communion services instead. This was unfathomable to my Catholic friend.)

I have little understanding of many traditional aspects of church...having grown up in mostly "modern" church environments where liturgy and ritual were seen as things of the past...where worship consisted primarily of choruses, where clapping and hand raising were the norm. I can't sing even one complete verse of a Hymn from memory, except "Amazing Grace".

However...here's what my "tradition" has to offer. For Easter: we have a huge theatrical production...music, drama and all. It usually has a catchy title...like "Redemption Road". We would have 9 identical services over Easter weekend, so no one has to miss out.

What I have learned from my "tradition": I can teach you about the manifestation gifts of the Holy Spirit like a Pro. I can sing hundreds of worship choruses from memory. I can explain the terms "slain in the spirit", "travailing prayer", and what it means to be a "prophetic sentinel". I can take concise sermon notes on a fill-in-the-blank bulletin, and I can point you toward a "class" or "program" for any pain you struggle with.

Not to say those are all good things, nor are they all bad, just that they are all parts of my religious "tradition".

Likewise...some of my "emerging" friends could contribute a number of their unique qualities to this faith of mine. I can't speak to that personally because although I align myself more with the Emerging church than any other variety of faith, I have never actually attended a church that considers itself to be "emerging" even if it does not embrace that term as a title.

I guess there are many experiences and practices of the Christian faith. All are equally valuable and we could certainly stand to be open to learning from all the facets of faith.

This brings to mind a recent post by Jamie Arpin-Ricci titled "Let's Dance: The Emerging and Established Church Together".

In this post, Jamie compares the Emerging and Established churches to the new movie "Take the Lead". What I gather from Jamie's summation: Antonia Banderas plays Pierre Dulaine, a former professional dancer who winds up teaching Ballroom Dancing to troubled High School students.

Jamie's summary of the plot:

"The clash is immediate, with Dulaine being seen as yet another uptown, wealthy person of privilege coming down to pat his own egos by offering useless charity. Further, the style of music and dance he introduced was quickly dismissed as outdated, dry and further evidence of the privileges culture. Things were not off to a good start. However, as Dulaine's commitment to them became more clear and the beauty of the dance began to demonstrate itself...

"Then a very unique and exciting thing happened. As they began to understand each others dance and music, they also a deeper connection, a shared underlying rhythm. Both shared subtle, but defining beats and patterns. What emerged was an exciting synthesis of both styles, embracing the grace and discipline of ballroom, while maintaining the edge, passion and angst of hiphop. Neither group abandon their perfered dance, but created a third option as well.

Jamie then discusses how he sees the similarities between this film and the Emerging/Established church relationships.

"...we need to begin to find ways of discovering the underlying rhythm, the shared tempo and beat that guides the unique expressions of our shared dance. We need to learn to affirm the importance and validity of each expression, willing to learn from each other. But it is not enough, however, to live and let live. Rather we need to seeks ways to create those "third options", where we can affirm that, despite our differences, we are one Church."

I think there is a profound lesson in that for all of us from any "tradition": modern or postmodern, evangelical or missional, established or emerging.

May we all learn to "dance".