A Few Thoughts on a Hot Thursday

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1. Does anyone know a good poem about dancing with God? I have a baptism on Sunday and am thinking about preaching about baptism as an invitation to dance with God (per Psalm 30 "You have turned my wailing into dancing....")...in baptism God invites us into community, into relationship, into a holy life, a holy dance...which doesn't mean that life is rosey and easy, but it is a dance.

2. We are under a strong wind advisory with severe storms predicted. This often happens on these hot days when a cool front bumps up against a heat wave...

3. I'm liking the heat. It's great to be warm and in shorts.

4. I'm tired of rain. We've had a lot of it...

Comments

Diane M. Roth said…
Mompriest, not sure if it will help, there is a great song by Neal and Leandra called "Grace." I'll see if I can download. It's about a woman named "grace" asking a man to dance... part of the words "there are so many others, and you've chosen me." It's not directly about God, but I know they're Christian, so I think there's an underlying meaning. If you mean a hymn, I think I might be clueless (oh, there is "Lord of the dance...) ... I actually used that when I preached on Psalm 30 Way back in seminary.

Looking forward to checking back.
6/07/2007 9:39 PM
Diane M. Roth said…
Hey! How'd you get the cool dog stuff at the bottom? great
6/07/2007 9:41 PM
Terri said…
Thanks Diane for the heads up about the song. I will check it out. Also. I saved the photos from my digital camera to my computer and then uploaded them to blogger via the photo add on included in the posting section. It just walks you through the process if you click on it. They are my sweet dogs, Roxie and Ruby! (Roxie is the Viszla)....
6/07/2007 9:49 PM
Diane M. Roth said…
They're terrific (and beautiful)!
6/07/2007 10:48 PM
Hot Cup Lutheran said…
We 3 gals just keep going round don't we?! I'll page thru a few poetry books & if something good turns up I'll let you know!
Hope the storms pass you buy & that your sleep is peaceful tonight... Better try finishing the sermon. augh. oh wait... I mean making sense of what I wrote so far...double augh. maybe it is bed time??
6/07/2007 11:49 PM
Grace thing said…
Have you seen Anne Lamott's new book Grace (Eventually)? There's a wonderful chapter entitled "Dance Class" about a time she helped in a special-ed dance class. It's not likely you could use any of this in your baptism prep, but I thought I'd offer it. She writes, "I know that humans want and need exactly the same thing: to belong, to feel safe and respected. I also know that we don't live long. And that dancing almost always turns out to be a good idea. Rumi wrote, 'Whatever there is, is only He,/your footsteps there in dancing:/The whirling, see, belongs to you,/and you belong to the whirling.'"
Another section: "It's incredibly touching when someone who seems so hopeless finds a few inches of light to stand in and makes everything work as well as possible. All of us lurch and fall, sit in the dirt, are helped to our feet, keep moving, feel like idiots, lose our balance, gain it, help others get back on their feet, and keep going."
And then she closes the chapter with: "When Karen and I were hiking a few days later, she told me after class, one of the dancers had exclaimed, 'I like those old ladies! They were helpers, and they danced.' These words I want on my gravestone: that I was a helper, and that I danced."
6/08/2007 12:22 AM
Terri said…
Thanks HCL and Grace-Thing. I won't get back to my sermon until this afternoon...I appreciate what you have to offer from Anne Lamott since I begin with an illustration about helping kids get ready for the prom, being uneasy in their "adult" formalware and wondering if they danced? And HCL, if you find any poetry let me know. I've found a few but not quite what I'm looking for.
6/08/2007 8:06 AM
Deb said…
a couple of songs I love... they are on iTunes...

Dance with me
by Evan Earwicker
http://www.dancewithme.org/dance_with_me.htm
I wanna be romanced by the King of the ages
I don't want to sing of a passion I've never known
I want to get lost in the beauty of Jesus
To dance through the night around your throne

And...
Paul Wilbur's "Dance with Me:
Dance with me oh Lover of my soul to the song of all songs. Come and sing oh lover of my soul to the song of all songs. Lord you have come over the hills upon the mountains. To me you have come, my beloved -captured my heart.


Ok, NOW you got me singing!

d
6/08/2007 1:57 PM
Terri said…
Thanks Deb, and everyone for the help! I am sure these will make it into the sermon!
6/08/2007 3:43 PM
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