The Rev. Margaret Watson
St. Margaret's Episcopal Church & School
Unedited
Did you see the snow? Boy, I guess I can quit wondering now if there is a wax for my cross-country skis that will work on sand. Maybe the snow will come this low.
It's Christ the King Sunday, and all my kids are upstairs and it thrills me to see you up here. Did you hear in the story that Jesus told some of his disciples to go get a donkey? What king in his right mind rides on a donkey? I thought kings wore big helmets and carried swords and had shining armor and they ride big white horses don't they? Children, listen up. Jesus will come to you in unexpected ways. The king of glory will not look like a regular king. He will come to you in the guise of your teachers or your classmates. So be aware for the coming of our King. During the Gloria all of you guys sounded really great up there, and I had a hard time keeping in my chair. But when Robert hired me, he made me promise one thing. That I wouldn't suggest that we dance in church. So, I'm not suggesting it, okay.
But I think it's too bad. A couple of weeks ago we came close. About 150 of us gathered for a party right out here on the patio. It was the Welcome Back Party, and we had a country western band. Now, country western and I haven't always been a fit, but believe me that night I was converted. And the next morning somebody that I work with came up to me and said, "Margaret, I lost money on you last night". I said, "Lost money on me what do you mean?" They said, I bet you couldn't dance. I love to dance. And I learned a lot about dancing that night.
First I learned that there were dancers, and then there were those who sat by and watched. And, I discovered that I really didn't know that much about dancing at all. When I learned to dance my dad taught me, and I stood on his shoes and did the one two three, one two three, one two three until the movement and the rhythm of the music filled my body, and I got it dancing on his shoes. I learned to follow. But, then when I became a teenager, the fox trot was certainly out and the waltz wasn't even on the map. It was the time of each dancer do your own thing, shake, rattle and roll!
At the Welcome Back Party for the first time in a long time I danced with people. We danced together. Circle dances, line dances, these dances had names. How long has it been since you danced a dance with a name? And, when I got lost I could look to the person next to me to find out what I was supposed to be doing. It was the dance that united us, and that struck me as rather marvelous. Because it became the dance that was important, not the dancer, but the dance. Jesus is the Lord of the dance.
This entry, this coming into Jerusalem is a Palm Sunday reading when we walk about dancing with palm fronds. This is the Advent of our King, and this is the dance. It is the majestic swirling of the universe. The divine movement from chaos to order, and it is the rhythm of the cosmos all in time to the gentle ride on a donkey.
This indeed is the dance of life made known to us in the life of Christ.
In his birth made known to us in real human flesh.
In his teachings made known to us in scripture.
In the journey to Jerusalem, the very heart of the place thick with those who hated him.
In his journey to the cross where life itself, the very life that holds all things in being, the beginning, the end the alpha the omega.
The journey to the cross where life itself is offered to God our Father and is redeemed in a new life beyond the cross.
This, this dance is the dance we are called to learn, to follow. Not each of us doing our own thing, but together as one body with Christ as the head, with Christ as the one we follow on his shoes. Our dance begins with baptism with the cross section of the eternal with the historical.
It's our own entry into the eternal priesthood of Christ, and our dance is rehearsed weekly at the altar in holy bread and holy wine. Our dance to the cross is perfected in study, service and fellowship and sometimes it takes a lifetime, but I assure you it is not culminated in death.
It is the dance of life which we can follow only when we participate, only when we lose ourselves in the crowd, only when we do not go off to our own drummer, do not worry about self, but about the dance.
Next week we begin the new year in the church, so all week we can go around saying "Happy New Year", "Happy New Year". And, people will look at us and say what dance are they doing? By next Sunday we will have danced full circle this year, and this next week we will begin it again. And God willing, we will do it again, and again and again. And, we will invite others to join us until the last person waiting in the shadows of the dance floor can no longer resist. And, we better be ready to teach each other how to follow. Come, are you ready? Will you join in the dance?