2005-01-17 
 

never stop the dance

Went to church yesterday. First time I've been to church on a Sunday in years. G and I will sometimes go to a Taize service on a Wednesday evening to connect with the world in a broader way, but my usual worship preference? Well, Emily Dickinson said it first:

Poem 324
Some keep the Sabbath going to Church -
I keep it, staying at Home -
With a Bobolink for a Chorister -
And an Orchard, for a Dome -

Some keep the Sabbath in Surplice -
I just wear my Wings -
And instead of tolling the Bell, for Church,
Our little Sexton - sings.

God preaches, a noted Clergyman -
And the sermon is never long,
So instead of getting to Heaven at last -
I'm going, all along.

The church we visited yesterday may've been new, but the clapboard and stone melded with the surrounding colonial town as if it had stood there for centuries. They hold services in the World Room, so called because of a beautiful stained glass window with...yes, a picture of the world on it. We didn't hear a typical sermon though. Instead, they welcomed a special guest preacher, Reverend Dr. Donald Warner, who treated us to an hour of poetry. Several of the poems were accompanied by a young woman doing interpretive dance that really got me thinking.

Dancing as a way of expressing religious joy is underrated in this country amongst most of the dominant churches. People sing to the Lord, paint pictures to praise him, and many other acts of artistic expression, but dance is still tinged with the taint of sin. I'm not going to go all Footloose on you now, because it's really a whole entry of it's own. If it ever gets written, I'll try and remember to recount a certain night at Universe...

Where was I? Oh yes, church. So Dr. Warner is an African American man born in the 1930's and his life boasts some interesting episodes. From growing up as a member of an oppressed minority, to his time spent in the Korean war, to his meeting with MLK Junior, there seems to be little he hasn't seen or done. To hear of his experiences in his own voice and on this particular weekend was truly a treat and appropriate to the moment. While I'm a bit disappointed that I didn't get to see one of the normal Sunday services, I wouldn't trade it. Chances like that come along rarely, and I believe it is better to embrace them when they happen instead of wondering what might have been.

Besides, it's not like that's the only UU church service I'll ever be able to attend...

Labels: looking eastward, spirit

* posted by me at 4:42 PM

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