Dr. David D. Young
December 10, 2006
Jeremiah 31: 10-14
Luke 1: 26-38
"The Dance of Eternity"

"Christmas is coming! And it’s time for giving and forgiving, but we get so mad so fast about so little, and sometimes it’s hard to remember how to be happy, and we hug our hurts instead of each other. But Lord, Christmas is coming. And we want to smile and laugh and dance, so, please, tease away our frowns, and let the mistletoe appear above every head, and kiss away our tears, and make us huggers and lovers, givers and forgivers, children of all ages!" So wrote theologian Robert Raines.

Christmas is coming!

And there are some young children who can hardly wait. And I know some grown-ups who can hardly wait for it to be over. Some don’t care one way or another – after all it’s just a date on a calendar. Or is it?

Throughout this Advent season we are listening and looking at different ways of discovering anew, the mystery of Christ’s coming as we explore our sermon series: "Reaching ‘Round the Earth."

Last week we sensed the dream. Today we are considering the dance. Next Sunday we will tune into the song. And on the forth Sunday of Advent we will try to catch something of the drama.

In the dance we hope to see the eternal message of love and hope – pointing to a single birth in a single stable.

During the holidays, one fourth-grade class wrote, directed and acted in a Christmas pageant at the Second Presbyterian Church in Charleston, SC. It opened with the scene at the inn. Joseph and Mary ask for a room overlooking Bethlehem.

Innkeeper: "Can’t you see the ‘No Vacancy’ sign?"
Joseph: "Yes, but can’t you see that my wife is expecting a baby any minute?"
Innkeeper: "Well, that’s not my fault."
Joseph: "Well, it’s not mine, either!"

The fault of Jesus’ birth – pure and simple is God’s. The fault – or rather the reason for each of our births – is God, too! Mary believed that God was responsible for Jesus’ birth and she was obedient – she was receptive.

Let’s picture the scene again in our minds that Stu McCalley read for us. The angel visits Mary – and as many great poets and musicians have envisioned it – the angel dances and sings a message from heaven. She is told she will conceive a son – and that his name is to be called Jesus. She questions the angel Gabriel – because she has no husband. And he responds – that with God all things are possible – yes the Holy Spirit and the power of the most high will be with her.

To which Mary says, "Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word." Hers was a response of belief and obedience. What an incredible experience! What an eye-opening and heart-opening opportunity!

Now, I don’t want this sermon to get bogged down on the point of whether Mary was a virgin at the time of Jesus’ birth. But, I would like to address it briefly by sharing a story.

A number of years ago there was an old professor at Harvard Divinity School who was being subjected to a considerable ridicule because of his belief in the virgin birth of Jesus. This teaching was regarded as a naive myth by many of his younger colleagues. One day one of them challenged the old man for holding what was regarded as an intellectually irresponsible position. The younger man said, "Do you mean to tell me that if some young woman from Boston came into the hospital and said that she was going to have a baby, that she was a virgin, and that an angel had appeared to her, you would believe her?" The old man hesitated, thought a long while, and answered slowly, "No – I probably wouldn’t believe her story. I would probably dismiss her words – but I’ll tell you one thing for sure, if that baby grew to manhood and his teachings changed the course of history, if he grew up and eventually died on the cross and rose from the dead, if two-thousand years later one third of the world’s population called him Savior and Lord – if that happened – I think I would give that girl’s story a second hearing!"

You see, something much larger is Reaching ‘Round the Earth. So, it is not important for us to get hung-up on the point of whether or not Mary was a virgin. What is important is we realize that the eternal love of God was born into the world on that first Christmas morn – and it has been reaching ‘round the earth ever since.

I’d like you to picture the most beautiful dance you’ve ever seen – where the dancers move so effortlessly and gracefully – almost as if they are dancing on air. And now imagine such a dance communicating a message from God to Mary. It takes an imagination, an open mind, and an open heart to see "The Dance of Eternity."

"The Dance of Eternity" is when the eternal love of God worked it’s way down through the angel to Mary – and when it works it’s way down to us, too! Mary pondered all these things in her heart. She did not understand how heaven is joined to earth. And who of us does? She simply accepted and shared in the joy of motherhood. Her deep, deep joy met God’s eternity. She accepted the Christ-child within and experienced the deep, joyful dance of eternity – of God connecting with humankind.

Snoopy once told crabby Lucy,

"To dance is to live and to live is to dance! If you can’t dance at least you can do a happy hop!"

Most of us will never dance as the dancers and angels of our imaginations – but at least we can do a happy hop!

As Lee Ann Womacks’s song lyrics say,

"And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance – I hope you dance."

Now, let me assure you I’m not going to ask you to get up in the aisles and dance this morning – and trust me, I’m not going to dance for you either. But I will confess – there are times when I am alone that I do a happy hop! And it is then – in a spontaneous moment of great thankfulness and exuberant joy – that the dance of eternity is present. To dance is to touch and be in relationship with another – to trust - to move together – and to be in step with another.

To use this marvelous image of dancing, the angel starts the dance and Mary joins in tentatively at first – but with grace, openness and purity. You see, this is really the dance of the spirit – the unseen reality of God’s presence.

Friends, when we, like Mary, receive Christ within – we are met by the deep, joyful dance of eternity. Dancing let’s your heart take you where you need to go. Dancing in spirit lets your heart of faith take you where you need to go – to connect with God.

Hear the words of faith and anticipation from our first lesson that Stu McCalley read for us,

"Then shall the young women rejoice in the dance, and the young men and the old shall be merry. I will turn their mourning into joy, I will comfort them, and give them gladness for sorrow."

And in conjunction – hear this contemporary and thoughtful prayer by John Cummings,

"For the gift of rejoicing, for exultation in simple things, for joy in all things, for the happiness of those around us, and especially at this time for the occasion of …, Christ’s birth we thank you with light hearts and dancing minds."

When faith is born – and reborn in us, joy is the accompanying feeling.

I guess what I’m really trying to communicate these few weeks before Christmas is this…that if we are to experience "The Dance of Eternity" - we will need to put Christ at the top of our Christmas list the year. Both in terms of what we receive and what we give. To include Christ on our Christmas list may seem obvious and perhaps too simplistic – but it is true.

Keeping Christ at the top of our priority list throughout this season is actually very challenging. But the dance helps us not become too serious – it helps mingle Christ into everything we do and feel – if we are open to its lifting power.

Faith is not only believed, it is danced, with a dancing spirit. Words, concepts, beliefs and ideas are all very necessary for clarity and for consistent action. There is a time for words. But at this time of year – words and advertisements are cheap – and the muzak is never ending. And I for one get exhausted from being inundated by an ocean of verbiage that says buy this and buy that – and be sure to get everything done – as though Christmas is something to do.

The Word became flesh and must be rediscovered in the flesh. And to do that – I suggest we dance! Or at least do a happy hop!

The Indian poet, Rabindranath Tagore, invites us onto the spiritual dance floor this way when he says,

"Let your life lightly dance on the edges of time…like dew on the tip of a leaf."

Or we might say, let your life lovingly dance – reaching ‘round the earth – all as part of the dance of eternity.

"Christmas is eternal like the love that gave it birth – like the love that touches others as it reaches ‘round the earth." - Christina Rossi

"The Dance of Eternity."

Christmas is coming!

The dance says it’s so!

Amen!