Dare to Dance Week 4 - May 6

May 6, 2012

Dare to Dance Week #4:  Releasing/Opening

Series Title: Dare to Dance: Moving towards Healing

Anchor: Judy Emerson’s drawings

Frame:  Releasing/ Opening

Threads: Prayer beads, healing prayers, Dance, Song - Healed Healthy and Whole

Image:  Child is naked, crouching, fists clenched, beginning to rise

Mark 10:46-52

They came to Jericho. As he and his disciples and a large crowd were leaving Jericho, Bartimaeus son of Timaeus, a blind beggar, was sitting by the roadside. When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout out and say, ‘Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!’ Many sternly ordered him to be quiet, but he cried out even more loudly, ‘Son of David, have mercy on me!’ Jesus stood still and said, ‘Call him here.’ And they called the blind man, saying to him, ‘Take heart; get up, he is calling you.’ So throwing off his cloak, he sprang up and came to Jesus. Then Jesus said to him, ‘What do you want me to do for you?’ The blind man said to him, ‘My teacher, let me see again.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Go; your faith has made you well.’ Immediately he regained his sight and followed him on the way.

Our figure has now risen (if not fully) and her clenched fist has opened outward. Whatever she was clasping tightly has been released and now something new can fill her open hands. Henri Nouwen wrote in his book, “Open Hands”: To pray means to open your hands before God. It means slowly relaxing the tension which squeezes your hands together and accepting your existence with an increasing readiness, not as a possession to defend, but as a gift to receive. Above all, therefore, prayer is a way of life which allows you to find a stillness in the midst of the world where you open your hands to God’s promises, and find hope for yourself, your fellowman (sic) and the whole community in which you live. 

I suspect that one of our greatest obstacles to healing is our inability to release our woundedness. Bartimaeus knew what he wanted. He wanted to see. (Mark is also making the point that this blind person could already “see” clearly who Jesus was, while the religious people were blind to who Jesus was) I think too many of us don’t want to see or hear or dance. We are getting some kind of demented reward out of wallowing in our victimhood. I believe it also feels safer to stay as we are (even if what we are is wounded) than to be open to becoming something new. The figure in the drawing stands with Bartimaeus, ready to receive.

This is the Sunday that Tsahai and her dancers will be with us. Their healing will be seen in their dancing, but not in physical restoration. This may be a good time to explore the nature of healing: not as cure but as wholeness.  Because of the need for more space, the dancers will be performing in Bond Hall. I suggest that we begin our worship in the sanctuary and then move into Bond Hall and conclude there. Maybe we can get Tsahai and/or a dancer to lead us from space to space.

I’ve also had a conversation with Bill S. who has been attending SCUCC the last couple of months. Bill is a pastor and hospice chaplain. He is willing to talk about healing at the end of life. Marge G. blew us away with her dialog and interaction, and I can’t promise that from Bill but he might have some insight.

I think our focus should be on the openness for whatever healing is offered. For Bartimaeus it was sight, for those in hospice it might be peace, for Tsaihai’s dancers it is beauty in a different form. How can we free ourselves from defining the healing we want, and open ourselves to the healing that Love can offer?