This I Believe

by Larry Slager

How can I relate to you an image of my life in Christ? The image of a dancer comes to mind. Not that I particularly love to dance or that I dance well – neither being true. But the image of dance is a familiar one in the literature of Christian Spirituality and it brings to my mind an earlier experience that typifies something of my experience in the journey with Christ.

Several years ago my wife and I were preparing for the marriage of our son. We knew this would be a very special affair. We would be expected to join in dancing at the reception which, for me, has always been a somewhat awkward experience. As a youth my religious culture frowned on dance and neither my wife nor I had ever really learned to be comfortable on the dance floor. Somewhat in desperation we decided to take dance lessons together with a few of our friends. The experience actually turned out to be great fun and we learned at least enough to feel confident dancing at our son’s wedding reception.

So, what does this have to do with the Christ path? Some of you, I’m sure, have taken dancing lessons. You would have learned, as we did, that the male member of the dance couple is expected to take the lead while the female follows. This proved to be a challenge for my wife, Sharon. She’s naturally a pretty assertive, independent woman - qualities I mostly enjoy about her. But, in the context of learning to dance, this independence meant that she frequently resisted following my lead, resulting in an awkward and less than graceful movement. At times she did not trust where I was moving or she might have felt an inclination to move in a different direction. We’ve laughed together about this awkwardness and its metaphor for our own relationship. As I reflect on this experience I recognize that it’s precisely this same awkwardness that can infect my faith journey, and likely yours as well.

In the dance with God I am the partner expected to follow the lead if God and I are to become something beautiful and graceful together. This is a challenge! I want to live in ways desired by the God who knows me and seeks me out for the dance of life. Yet, at a deeper level there is much I don’t know and at times I recognize my own struggle to trust God. And, like Sharon, I often have my own ideas about this faith journey and the directions I prefer moving. Although God ultimately may pull me along, the dance can seem pretty awkward at those points where I mistrust or resist God’s lead.

Dancing With God in Spiritual Practices

This same imagery of the dance offers yet another insight for me. We all recognize that the art and grace of the dance are created through hours and even years of the dancers’ personal strengthening and practice. Here I recall another truth I have learned in the dance with God: it is not enough for me to simply give assent to belief and tradition; I need experiences of God – personal spiritual practices - that permeate my heart as well as my head; I need to hear others’ stories of God’s movement in their lives, and I need to be conscious of this same movement in my own life. My perceptiveness of this movement within and around me, my sensitivity to where I am being invited into the dance with God, and my responsiveness to the invitation to join God in making something of beauty - these all rest on the spiritual practices to which I can commit myself.

All of this suggests that the disciplines of spiritual conditioning enhance the beauty and joy of my dance with God. These disciplines are spaces in my life where I may cultivate that interpretation of experience as seen through the lens of faith. It’s my responsibility to prepare for God’s invitation, practicing so that our dance can be less awkward and more an image of joy and beauty.

Lap Time With God

I’m thinking of communal worship and Bible study, of course. But I’m also convinced that a vibrant relationship with Christ and the beauty and grace of this dance with God rests upon experiences that reach deep down within my spirit. These experiences demand a commitment to regular times for being alone with God – for what I have heard described as “lap time”¹ with God - silence, listening, wondering, pondering with the Spirit the meaning of my experiences. I am committed to broadening my ways of approaching and being approached in relation to God. I have learned the freedom to notice my imagination and intuition – that right part of my brain – when praying the Scriptures. I’m realizing the importance of finding times for communal sharing of those ongoing stories of God in our place and time, stories always happening within and all around us. To notice that river of graces offered us by this God who is our divine lover. I have learned that my sensitivity to noticing God’s presence in all places is directly connected to my setting time aside for listening to God, for pondering with the Spirit the meaning of my experiences – those dreams, longings, conflicts, and moments of deep satisfaction and joy. Carlo Caretto, in his classic, Letters from the Desert², says it simply: (Faith) “…is a gift of God but it needs effort on our part if it is to bear fruit.”

Like with dance, I know that when we begin such exercises the spiritual practices available for our strengthening can feel awkward, even unproductive. But I am convinced that all of they are essential to the journey you and I have been invited into.

This I believe! This is my experience with the God who waits for you and for me – our God who wants to lead us in a dance that is beautiful and joyful, a dance that creates a picture of God’s own desire. So, I encourage you – prepare yourselves and enjoy the dance!

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¹ A term suggested by the Rev. Jay Weener, former pastor of Fifth Reformed Church, Grand Rapids, Michigan.

² Caretto, Carlo. Letters from the Desert. New York: Orbis Books, 1972.