"But now, after knowing God (or rather, being known by God), how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless world system? Do you want to be slaves to it again?" -Galatians 4:9
"If you want to view paradise, simply look around and view it. Anything you to, do it. Want to change the world? There's nothing to it." -Pure Imagination, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory
As a youth minister, I spend a lot of time at middle school band concerts and high school football games. It's one of my favorite things about my job: getting to go out and see my kids doing what they love. But in all the years of doing that, I had never been to a dance recital. That was until a few weeks ago, when a number of our students were all in a performance together. I figured to myself, "What a chance to see a bunch all at once?"
Well, I wasn't totally prepared for the experience. If you are a dance parent, you know what I'm talking about: the shiny outfits, the two-minute dances, the back-to-back-to-back performances, the sometimes mistakes. It was an awesome thing to take in.
Now, I want to be clear: my kids were great. It was so awesome watching them do their things. But they were not my favorite dancers that morning.
Nope, that distinction belongs to a girl who couldn't have been older than about 6 or 7 (maybe). She was one of three girls in her particular sequence, and as you can imagine, with kiddos that young, it was mostly a disaster in a thousand directions. The teacher was upfront helping feed the girls their moves to keep them going the right way, and for the most part, the other two girls did their part.
My favorite, though? She had some bigger stuff in mind! The second the music started, it become clear she had a different rhythm in her feet. If you've ever seen Little Miss Sunshine, that's a pretty good picture. She twirled and jumped and bounced and threw her hands in every direction. The other two girls might have performed their choreography more correctly, but this girl had more fun than every other dancer combined.
And what made it better? Every single person in the audience found themselves clapping, laughing, giggling, and otherwise enjoying the disastrous joy on the stage. This girl didn't do a single thing she'd been taught, and yet she stole the show. Her teachers had one thing in mind. She had another!
Sometimes we live life a lot like the other 98% of the performers that day. And there's nothing wrong with that (for the most part). We live by the rules we've been given and try to do the very best job we can within those confines.
But I'm becoming more and more convinced that people who follow Jesus ought to break out of the rat race and get our Little Miss Sunshine on a little more often. We ought to play by a different set of rules with different criteria for success.
The apostle Paul helped set up a church in a city called Galatia. At first, they were all-in about the things he had taught them about Jesus and resurrection and grace. It was exciting. There was real life transformation. But once Paul left to keep setting up other churches in other parts of the Roman world, other people started filling the leadership void. And they tried pulling the people in the church in Galatia back towards the status quo. They were falling back into the old ways and the old expectations the world had for them. They'd lost what had made them stand out.
This happens all the time today. I'm convinced the power of the gospel is found in the ways that it butts up against what everyone expects, even the people who felt the most religious. Jesus was too busy doing things that nobody expected to be worried about "fitting in." But like the Galatians, for all of us, myself most of all, it all gets wrapped up in being "respectable" and "reasonable." We don't want to be too out there, too different.
But Christians ought to stand out. We shouldn't look like everyone else. There ought to be a disconnect somewhere deep in our soul that says we're not at home in the world of competition and conflict. There ought to be a dissonance between the rhythms of busyness and isolation and the dream of connection and shalom. Our lives ought to reflect that disconnect.
And I'm not talking about standing out for eating a little more responsibly or giving up a vice for 40 days. I mean the kind of love that does expect anything in return. I mean the kind of generosity that is extravagant without expecting a kickback favor. I mean forgiveness that doesn't know conditions. I mean fighting for humanity when all around you are fighting for their tribe. I mean tearing down barriers when only bridges will do. I mean seeing the impossible and willing to die so that it might become possible.
The world needs more people willing to dance to a different beat and offer a different way. We need people who are willing to try new ways and sing a new song. We all need a reminder that life can be better!
May we let go of our dire need to fit in. May we let go of the temptation to be reasonable and respectable on account of faith. May we fight the urge to find our spot in the rat race and churn the hamster wheel. May we find a new way, a song placed in the pit of our soul by the one who breathed it into our lungs. May we dance a new dance, offering the world a new way.
forever unfinished...
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