Hey. So. This will be turning into a real blog soon. Like an actual place where I put thoughts instead of boring, poorly written papers... so, dear audience, if you exist, if there's anything you particularly like, let me know and I'll leave it up. Otherwise, it'll probably be gone. Eh, the dancing essay will stay, because I think it's still an accurate presentation of my thoughts and it's more in the style that I would like to see here.
Anyhow. Peace.
Tuesday, March 4, 2014
Saturday, May 25, 2013
“Except for the Point, the Still Point, There Would Be No Dance”
Good and fun are not the same thing.
They are not opposites, either. Things are not bad because they are fun, or
boring because they are good—but just the same, it is particularly refreshing
to find activities that are not only good and glorifying to God, but
ridiculously fun as well. Such is the case with dancing. The art of social
dancing expresses the proper place of man before God, and so is a good and
worthwhile pursuit.
Fundamentally, dance is an artful
ordering of movement. Now, in order for a person to move, he must first be
aware of his being present in one place and absent in another. He knows, then,
that he is not omnipresent. Second, he changes his position. Change requires
passage of time, so he also knows that he is within time, that he is not
eternal. He knows, then, that he is limited by space and time—in short, that he
is a creature. So, to make an art of movement is to celebrate the place of man
as a creature before God.
More specifically, dance is an
artful ordering of movement in response to something. When David danced before
the Lord in 2 Samuel 6, he was responding with joy to the work of God in
bringing the Ark of the Covenant back to Israel. For Christians in the Western
world today, dancing is most commonly a response to God’s gift of music. A
dance is beautiful when it is a fitting response to the music. [1]
Music conveys emotion and meter, and a good dancer will incorporate both these
factors into his movements with his own unique style.
When a gentleman and lady dance
together, a social element is added to the art. The dance exists as an
opportunity to show courtesy; it is for this reason that a dance begins with
the gentleman’s asking the lady. If he is feeling particularly chivalrous, [2] he may even ask for “the honor of the next dance.” And the lady, if she is
polite, does not decline. Among friends this is not a matter of cold etiquette.
Dancing is, after all, an entirely unnecessary pastime; a person dances—or at
least, should dance—merely because he wishes to do so, so that any courtesy is
shown because a person sincerely wishes to show it.
Partner dancing is a social activity, so everyday principles of social
life apply. Communication—although primarily nonverbal—is vital as the lead and
the follow feed off each other’s energy, build on each other’s style, and feel
each other’s frame and movements to determine their own next move. Each partner
works to bring out the other’s best in skill and gracefulness, and they spur
each other on to better and better dancing. Dancing with different partners
provides opportunity for improvement not only in dancing, but also in teamwork,
communication, and leadership. [3]
While the gentleman and lady both perform the tasks mentioned above, in
other regards their responsibilities are very different; in fact, the roles of
lead and follow reflect in certain ways the roles of Christ and the Church. The
gentleman is the one primarily responsible for initiating the dance and forming
the couple, as well as finding the couple’s place on the floor, representing
the couple to the other people in the room, and, of course, leading the dance
itself. The lady’s responsibility, on the other hand, relates primarily to the
lead, in supporting and following him. The lead understands the music, enters
into the mood of it, and responds with movement—while communicating all of this
to his follow. She, in turn, is sensitive to both the music and the lead’s
movements. The lead interprets the music in a certain style; and the follow,
sensing that, uses her own skill to advance the style her lead has set forth. [4]
The lead-follow dynamic is in some
ways similar to the relationship of husband and wife—and this similarity may
cause some to doubt the propriety of dancing outside of that relationship. The
similarity arises, however, not from a dance mimicking a marriage, but from
dancing and marriage both reflecting the same greater reality. The images in
dancing and marriage are parallel, not identical. A husband’s role is not the
only one that imitates Christ.
Another objection to social dance is
the supposedly inescapable tendency toward sensuality. But while abuses of
dance do exist, they do not nullify the proper enjoyment of the pursuit. If
anything, they show a need for Christians to promote an understanding of dance
that honors God—because such an understanding is indeed tenable. That is not to
say that individuals who struggle with sin in this area should not refrain from
dancing, in the same way that individuals who struggle with alcoholism may
refrain from drinking altogether, in accordance with Romans 14. But rather,
dancing—when done properly—can and should be considered a thing of beauty, not
of vice.
When dancing
is beautiful, it gives pleasure to both dancers and observers; and beauty is
pleasurable because God made it to be so. To enjoy God’s gifts of movement and
music is a blessing. To actively enjoy them with mind, emotions, and body is a
privilege. To do so in a social setting is edifying. Dancing is not just fun.
It is good.
Thursday, December 1, 2011
On Christmas Cheer
A Word of Christmas Cheer
to
Emily Boskovich, by Emily Peterson
“Cream-colored ponies and crisp apple strudel/door-bells
and sleigh-bells and schnitzel with noodles/wild geese that fly with the moon
on their wings/these are a few of my favorite things!” What with the special,
cheery feelings that come with the Christmas season, it’s no wonder that the
song from “The Sound of Music” has become a popular holiday song. Its message
is simple: the world is full of frightening, depressing, bad things; therefore,
we must cling to that which is happy, sweet, romantic, and dear. That is the
message of “My Favorite Things,” and it is the message of a world that knows no
hope of redemption. They must choose something to cling to, because they cannot
cling to God.
Unbelievers cannot cling to God because they hate Him.
They may not realize it, but they do. People disbelieve in Christ, for He is
the perfect revelation of God; they refuse to acknowledge the Bible, for it is
the revealed law and message of God; they deny the importance and substance of
history, for it is the work of God. God Himself said, “If the world hate you,
ye know that it hated me before it hated you” (John 15:18). Sinners find all manner
of things to worship rather than Jesus. Sometimes their choice is blatantly
rebellious and satanic; more often, however, because the law of God is written
on the hearts of all men, good things—gifts from God—become idols. So it is
with the worldly spirit of Christmas. Family, friendship, togetherness,
generosity, love, and kindness embody what Christmas means to the world today.
The holiday season is about joy, but the angels brought tidings of “a Saviour,
which is Christ the Lord.” The world will grant us a message of “peace,
goodwill toward men,” but first comes “glory to God in the highest” (Luke
2:10-14).
The feelings and attitudes that typify Christmas spirit
in the world today are not at all bad or wicked. Neither do such things belong
primarily to the world, by any means! The blessings associated with Christmas
have their source in the God of Christianity, not in the hearts of men. Generosity
is a good thing, and it reflects the grace of God in sending “His Son to be the
propitiation for our sins” (1 John 4:10). The institution of family is from
God, and harmony among men is glorifying to Him. “Behold, how good and how
pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!” (Psalm 133:1). The
idolatry comes in the distraction. The world worships Christmas cheer at the
expense of Christ—and often so do Christians, although we rarely notice when we
do.
Christians get caught up in combating commercialism
during the Christmas season. We are right to decry it, and the world decries it
with us. If we hear a celebrity express a Christmas spirit that is centered on
family instead of on money, we are pleased with the fact, and perhaps that
celebrity goes up ever so slightly in the estimation of the public. And yet, we are still missing the point. The
events and feelings that make holiday celebrations special—and more
specifically, that make Christmastide “the most wonderful time of the year”—are
important, but they are not the most important things that make up Christmas.
Christmas is about Jesus. It seems so obvious, it should
go without saying; but we need to truly take this truth to heart, if we are
going to get any benefit from the holiday celebrations. The wonder of the
season is that God would take humanity to Himself for the sake of our
salvation. We can do no better than to ponder and delight in the story of
Christ’s birth, life, death, and resurrection. Its implications are
innumerable, and our whole lives are before us that we may learn and rejoice in
them. Because Jesus “was incarnate of the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary, and
was made man,” in the words of the Nicene Creed, we have joy and comfort in
this life and hope and love in the next. Because Jesus lived and died—and lived
again—to bring us to peace with God, we have His perfect love, now and for ever.
“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall
tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or
sword? As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are
accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than
conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death,
nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor
things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to
separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans
8:35-39).
Life,
death, spirits, happenings, and creatures are all impotent to take away the
blessings we have in Jesus. And I would add, neither cream-colored ponies nor
crisp apple strudel shall remove us from His love. His affection for us is
endless, His love beyond telling.
Merry
Christmas!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)