Dancing Backwards

Most of us have heard the engaging and revealing comment that goes something like this. “Ginger Rogers did all the things in dance that Fred Astaire did. Except she did all those steps backwards and in high heels.”

Jesus is sometimes referred to as “Lord of the Dance.” We even have a hymn that describes his life journey in such language. I confess that I do not like that hymn very much, but as is often said, it’s the thought that counts.

So, as we begin another time of Lenten observance in preparation for the celebration of Easter, it may be helpful to think about the extraordinary challenge of following in the dance steps of Jesus and their spirit-lifting reward. It is not easy thinking, however.

Being a follower of Jesus in our time of enormous secularization is often thought to be woefully out of step and culturally backward. Following Jesus in an age of dancing with stars seems to be on rather shaky footing. 

And to be sure, the present amplified heresies of televised religious hucksters and such persons given directorships of such heresies as the White House Faith Office would seek to make the way of Jesus as dancing in a lock step affair.

Following in the way of Jesus is not an easy dance when white Christian Nationalists are rewriting the Gospel story to fit their twisted and inaccurate interpretation of the life and mission of Jesus. Following in the way of Jesus is not an easy dance when the biblical record is a publication employed as the means for religious and political grifters to make money and claim a divine right for power.

While all this may be the case in our time, it is nothing new. In fact, Jesus was making his way (dancing?) through ancient Palestine when religious grifters were looking to make money and earn powerful positions through the misuse of God’s name and God’s revealed purpose.

Jesus’ way and message led him to the cross and a very public execution. The religious grifters’ dance leads the most successful of them to private jet ownership, enormous wealth, political influence, and bitcoin accounts.

But enough of that.

Lent is the message across the many generations that the truth of Jesus’s way of love wins. Sacrifice for the way of love, justice, mercy, and reliance upon God’s saving grace, while so often necessary and difficult, is not futile. Let’s support and join that dance!

Lent therefore is a time, not just for giving something up in order to reflect on one’s faith dance steps. Lent is a time for taking on the things which encourage us to keep on keeping on walking or dancing in the way of Jesus.

The true way of discipleship is to take the faith dance steps knowing that no act of love is a waste of time or misdirected. Lent is the encouragement over the season’s forty days to take on something that lifts our spirits, affirms what is decent, good, and worthy of remembering and emulating. I can dance to that.

Jesus lived in a dangerous world of religious and demonic violence. Jesus lived in a time when bearing false witness by religious leaders was profitable. Jesus lived in a time when the political divisions of party alliances divided and often isolated the population. 

But who do you remember from those days when Jesus “danced” within such a time of division? The way of love, danced by those who step to that rhythm, made all the difference. 

That dance still does make a life saving difference. Quoting the lyrics to the hymn, “Dance then, wherever you may be…” 

Our world will be better for the dance moves you make.