A few years ago, when Maddie was still doing competitive ballroom dancing, we ordered her a dress online through my account, since I was paying for it. Now, many years later, I still get email and posts and ads running on Google and Facebook, assuming I want to buy more dance dresses. You know how we used to worry about the government keeping eyes on us and knowing more about us than they should? Well, George Orwell, it isn’t the government, it’s the internet. Google and Amazon and Facebook remember what I bought a lot longer than I do. And they want to sell me more.
Dance dresses. I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t look good in the kind of dresses they’re trying to sell me. Not as good as Maddie anyway. A little too slinky and smooth and feathery and slit open and flowing for my use. Preachers should stick to the little black number that I wear. Right? Mind you, I’d love to dance like that. Some Sunday mornings seem to call for it. Light and airy, the good news is about lifting us, like we could float, walking on sunshine. Or dark and heavy, weighed down by sinfulness, brokenness, a dirge, a lament longing for a savior who could come and set us free. Or confident, a waltz or rumba reminding us that we are loved and capable of loving. Or a square dance that’s all about changing partners, including all, from one to the other and back again, enriched by the whole community as we dance together. Yeah, that’s what we need in worship, a little more dancing.
If any of the disciples had two left feet it was Peter. Always tripping over his own shortsightedness, stumbling around in his misguided certainties, leading with his sense of self-preservation instead of following the lead of the one he called Christ in a flash of grace that surprised even Jesus (“flesh and blood didn’t reveal this to you” i.e. there’s no way you figured this out on your own, Peter!) No, Peter wasn’t Lord of the Dance, he was a back row chorus line member at best.
Yet, here he is, leading, headlining, finding the spotlight and trying to follow the lead of the Spirit, who still has new steps for him to learn.
Acts 10:34-48 NRS Then Peter began to speak to them: "I truly understand that God shows no partiality, 35 but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him. 36 You know the message he sent to the people of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ-- he is Lord of all. 37 That message spread throughout Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John announced: 38 how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power; how he went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him. 39 We are witnesses to all that he did both in Judea and in Jerusalem. They put him to death by hanging him on a tree; 40 but God raised him on the third day and allowed him to appear, 41 not to all the people but to us who were chosen by God as witnesses, and who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. 42 He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one ordained by God as judge of the living and the dead. 43 All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name."
44 While Peter was still speaking, the Holy Spirit fell upon all who heard the word. 45 The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astounded that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles, 46 for they heard them speaking in tongues and extolling God. Then Peter said, 47 "Can anyone withhold the water for baptizing these people who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?" 48 So he ordered them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they invited him to stay for several days.
Peter was preaching. Actually, he was giving his testimony. It was his own story that he was turning into a sermon that day. Back up in chapter ten of Acts and you’ll see the story that he was telling. The vision on the rooftop that seemed to be about the dietary laws, but actually was about who was worthy of the gospel. Peter was a good Jew. He knew who he could hang around with and who he had to avoid. Sure, Jesus kind of messed with his head for a while there. He was still processing all of that. But he knew where the lines were. He could follow the steps in this dance he knew from his childhood. But now his foxtrot thinking didn’t fit the salsa music he was hearing.
“I truly understand,” Peter preached, in what turned out to be a bit of an overstatement, “I truly understand that God shows no partiality!” What was wrong with that? Well, the “I truly understand” bit. He didn’t. Not yet. In the moment, yeah sure, he was swaying to the beat. But later, he’d want to sit this one out and Paul would beckon, and they would have a dance off, to re-teach him what he truly understood for a moment. That’s later. Let’s give him his due now. He’s got it down. That flow from the Spirit that takes him farther than he thought he could go.
He says that he was commissioned to preach to the people. Commissioned by the life and death and resurrection of his Lord, the living Christ, the Son of God, Jesus of Nazareth. Oh, yes, he knows the name now. He was reclaimed from his doubt and fear. He was gathered up from his denial and disappointment. He was called to preach to the people. What he still had to learn was who the people were.
See, he thought it was his people. The people like him. Who looked like him and spoke like him and danced like him. But Jesus opened his eyes to the people. All the people. The wonderful panoply of people. The glorious created collection of people and traditions and languages and dances that there would be no way he could master without throwing out a hip! But he could watch, and then learn and laugh and clap his hands as he welcomed them into the family.
He’s learned some new steps, we should applaud that. God does. And the heavenly applause sounds like the Spirit falling. No sound like a mighty wind this time. No tongues of fire resting on all and each. What did it sound like? Why did Luke say the Spirit fell?
It sounded like praise. It sounded like joy. It sounded like showers of blessings, like the moving of feet and the raising of hands. It sounded like the exuberance of a people who discovered they were included, they were loved, they were valued. The Spirit fell like a dove, it fell like rain on parched ground, it fell like lifted arms falling down to wrap around triumphant bodies. The Spirit fell. And even Peter, certain and uncertain both, couldn’t mistake that presence. “Can anyone withhold water for baptism?” How did he say that? I’m sure that a part of him hoped someone could, someone could come up with a reason to say no, so that he could scurry back into the certainty of his former darkness. But, let’s hope it was only a small part. Let’s hope the larger part was defiant, staring down the sticks in the mud among them who had “we’ve never done it this way before” dribbling from their lips. Let’s hope it was the joy of building up with body, of welcoming to the party, of lining up to dance. The water flowed, the words were sung, the family grew that day.
When families grow there are struggles. This Spirit thing hasn’t always been easy. That’s what the final chapter of Fresh Air is all about. The struggle between different expressions of the Spirit. One tends to look suspiciously at the other. The firestorm of speaking in tongues is just the weather vane to a larger issue. A perhaps simplistic way of characterizing the divide is to talk about head vs. heart faith. Those who want to emphasize the reason and will and those who want faith to be felt, emotion and passion. There’s more to it than that, but the arena of division is sometimes fought on those terms. Levison has a solution in his final chapter. Read the bible. The more we study, the closer to the center we come. I think he’s right. Because the purpose of reading the bible is not to know the bible, but to know Jesus. And only Jesus can draw us together. The Lord of the Dance can help us thinkers move our feet with joy. The Lord of Dance can help us passionate ones learn new and deliberate steps, inclusive movements. Bound together as one. One faith, one Lord, one baptism. Can anyone withhold the water?
When the Spirit falls, we all get up on our feet.
Shalom,
Derek
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