May 20 - Week 6 Finding Balance

May 20, 2012

Dare to Dance Week #6:  Finding Balance

Series Title: Dare to Dance: Moving towards Healing

Anchor: Judy Emerson’s drawings

Frame:  Finding Balance

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

Image:  Clothed and walking with dignity, the figure strides into a new future

Colossians 3:9-15

Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have stripped off the old self with its practices and have clothed yourselves with the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge according to the image of its creator. In that renewal there is no longer Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and free; but Christ is all and in all! As God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. Bear with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other; just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in the one body.

                It seems that there is a lot of synchronicity in that this week is also our graduation Sunday. As the graduates don their robes and stride across the stage they are walking into a wide open future. For the first time, the figure in our drawing has put on a robe; she has claimed her own dignity. Last week she was dancing with abandon. Now she walks with a measured pace. She has claimed a balance that will see her into the future.

                I am not a great fan of Paul’s letters, and much so for the pseudo-Pauline letters. That’s an esoteric way of say that most scholars think it very unlikely that Paul himself wrote the letter to the Colossians (because of writing styles, content, and historical references). But hidden in the midst of some pretty crappy theology are a few gems. This passage is one of those. The author uses the metaphor of robing for the spiritual life. We can don a new self, a Christ-self, like a new set of clothing or more appropriately for the day like a graduation robe. We can leave behind negative aspects of our lives, our wounds and scars, like so much dirty laundry. This letter tells us that the clothing that makes for a healthy and peaceful life are compassion, kindness, humility, meekness and patience.  It sounds a lot like loving each other as we love ourselves, more like the way Christ loves us. And even if we think that those characteristics do not come naturally to us, we can wear them like stiff new blue jeans until they are soft, broken-in, and comfortable on our frames. I debated about including verse 15, the last one which encourages us to let the peace of Christ rule in our hearts. I finally decided to include it because I realized that it is in fact the heart of why we carry the name of Christ. It is good advice for anyone to be compassionate, kind, humble, etc. But we put on those clothes because it is what we are called to do as we follow Christ. Early Christians understood that for all their disagreements, it was the peace of Christ that bound them together, that gave them their balance.

                Finding that balance is one of the pieces of wisdom that makes life a joy. Somehow the dignity that our figure has found speaks of a balance that she has now attained. It can be exciting to swing from extreme to extreme, but it is also exhausting. And like a car out of control on the highway, swerving back and forth will eventually  make you skid off the road. Following Christ, taking on the peace of Christ, is one of the ways that we find our balance in life.

                We will need to find ways of recognizing our graduates, as well as the entire Christian Education program. Melani tells me that the Sunday Schoolers would like to reprise their song as well. We have also talked about bringing the prayer beads back, and offering them to worshippers to take with them (perhaps for a donation!). And maybe we can find some way of offering a metaphorical piece of clothing for people to put on as a symbol of putting on love and peace and Christ. This has been a great series, and we can celebrate the Spirit that has brought us from woundedness to forward moving balance!