Jeremy L. Berg

My sweet Abigail (7 years) beams a bright floodlight of joy wherever she goes. She shines brightest, it seems, when she is dancing. In the living room. In the backseat of the car. At Creo Dance where she does ballet, tap, jazz and other cool stuff.

This week I’m on drop-off and pick-up duty for a 5-day summer dance camp. I have been struck all week by the joyful energy, happy smiles and buzz of excitement in the hallway as parents pick up these smiling bundles of joy in their tights. Show up a few minutes early and you get to watch the skilled teachers masterfully choreograph the rhythmic movements and facilitate the fun.

Today, as I watched these children skip and dance and sing their way out the front door into the parking lot, I thought about the atmosphere and mood at the average church on a Sunday morning as worshipers file out the doors into the parking lot. If only we could match their energy and excitement. How I envied those dance teachers I watched today with their bouncy and energetic disciples of dance. Abby was all aglow, already talking about coming back the next day to learn some new steps and improve upon today’s work. “I love dance so much!” she blurts out.

The Christian life can easily be described as an invitation into a Great Dance. Put on your salvation shoes and learn the rhythms of grace. Step out of the mosh-pit world and into the Eternal Waltz. Stop trying to dance to the beat of your own drummer, and learn to move in step with Jesus and the Holy Spirit. Leave your lonely folding chair in the corner of the high school auditorium, and take the hand of your Heavenly Partner and let Him lead you into a beautiful and joyful grace-groove. (Check out my book The Father’s Song on this theme.)

The church’s witness is suffering and the world around us is being shook to its foundations in part because too many Christians profess faith in Jesus but have yet to sign up for basic Kingdom Dance lessons. We confess creedal beliefs with our mouths, while our hearts don’t recognize the Kingdom Melody and our feet don’t know the Master’s steps. We claim to dance with Jesus, but our music player is playing this or that political song loudly on repeat.

I’m dreaming of a church full of eager Kingdom Disciples that can match the energy and excitement of these little dancers at CREO I’ve witnessed all week. I’d love to see middle-aged moms and dads skipping out of the Sunday gathering, tell their kids all about the new “Kingdom moves” and “spiritual steps” Jesus was teaching them this week. I’d love for us grown-ups to say with faces beaming, “I can’t wait to return next week to learn more steps together!”

Read – Set – Let’s Dance!