Dance Party
I sat today and listened to an upbeat gospel song remixed by the artist Moby. The song is excellent, if I may say so. Before I knew it I started tapping my foot, and I'm telling you, I really felt like dancing (not a strong point of mine, by the way).
Without realizing it I sort of got lost in a daydream. In this daydream I envisioned all the people in the room with me just letting loose and dancing. Not just any old two-step, I mean dancing like they had to. Full body moving, twirls, twists, jumps, even the occasional ridiculous yelping into the air. This wasn't just hip young people, it was old people, shy people, grandmothers, children, cardigan wearers, all shapes, sizes, and colors: black, white, brown, purple. People were sweating, laughing, all had that big stupid grin of excitement that you're not supposed to have after the age of 9.
If I were smart I would just end things there. But unfortunately I tend to make a moral out of everything. I've had a friend asking me lots of questions about why I'm a Christian (a decent question, I'd say), and I've struggled to really answer why I think she should also be a Christian. I grew up with the language of heaven and hell, but I don't think this is good enough anymore. So I told her I didn't think she was going to hell. Certainly not something they teach in Evangelism 101. And I've started to think that maybe being a Christian is acknowledging that this dance party is sometime going to happen, despite what the world looks like now. One day there will be no war, no poverty, no AIDS, no weeping or crying. The rich and powerful will no longer win, evil will no longer reign over this world, and whether we want it or not we will eventually hear the music, then we'll start tapping our feet, and before we know it we'll all be dancing and sweating to the liberating gospel music remixed by Moby. And we'll be dancing for a long time, with people we never thought we'd dance with, just looking at each other with that 9 year old smile that can only come with the most foolish kind of love.
posted by Daniel Leonard @ 4:45 PM
2 Comments:
interesting. so who gets to go to the dance? don't you wonder about that? is it everybody? everybody except nazis? everybody except nazis and people who buy american idol albums? and if they go to a different dance and its not a nice one, aren't we right back to heaven and hell with softer names?
I guess its a decent enough question....and definitely one I've asked myself a lot. There are times when I just think everyone is going to heaven (this is the one I think the most). Then there are times when I think that hell will be really underpopulated- Nazis, a few Christians (prosperity gospel types), and there are other times I think its only Mennonites going to heaven (being Mennonite myself, I promise this is just a joke).
The truth of it is, I don't have a damned clue what's going to happen when we die- at least not enough of a clue to start categorizing people into eternal states. I'm pretty comfortable with this these days. I do know that I'm not the one making any of the decisions, and I guess for that reason I won't even hazard a guess.
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