Sunday, June 03, 2007

Trinity Sunday


Today is Trinity Sunday --- a day in which Christians celebrate God as community: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit or Source, Word, and Spirit. As someone who likes to dance, one way of considering God's life in community that I have found particularly meaningful is expressed in the Greek term perichoresis --- which literally means going around. In ancient and contemporary songs and poetry one can find Christians celebrating the Trinity's eternal dance which we are all called to join in. Here's just one song that comes to mind this morning,

Lord of the Dance

I danced in the morning when the world was begun,
And I danced in the moon and the stars and the sun,
And I came down from heaven and I danced on the earth,
At Bethlehem I had my birth.

Refrain:
Dance, then, wherever you may be;
I am the Lord of the Dance, said he.
And I’ll lead you all wherever you may be,
And I’ll lead you all in the dance, said he.

I danced for the scribe and the Pharisee,
But they would not dance and they would not follow me;
I danced for the fishermen, for James and John;
They came to me and the dance went on.

Refrain

I danced on the sabbath when I cured the lame,
The holy people said it was a shame;
They whipped and they stripped and they hung me high;
And they left me there on a cross to die.

Refrain

I danced on a Friday and the sky turned black;
It’s hard to dance with the devil on your back;
They buried my body and they thought I’d gone,
But I am the dance and I still go on.

Refrain

They cut me down and I leapt up high,
I am the life that’ll never, never die;
I’ll live in you if you’ll live in me;
I am the Lord of the Dance, said he.

Refrain

2 comments:

MargretH said...

Ah yes... a church camp favorite. ;)

Peter Carey said...

I love that song, Nate R. (at VTS), always wanted to get to sing that at chapel, but all of us wimped out when it came to chapel planning team.

-Peter Carey, www.petercarey.org