Bill Shakespeare, meet Chuck Berry.
It’s like trying to tell a stranger about rock n’ roll. John Sebastian penned this memorable phrase in attempt to describe the exhilarating power of music, in the hit single, Do You Believe in Magic? We music lovers, of whatever genre, all know the response to that phrase: one simply cannot tell a stranger about music. Music needs to be experienced in song and dance, heard and felt in our hearts and guts, not explained with words or ideas.
We music lovers also know that it’s not magic at all, but rather a common human experience that defies a complete definition. If there were a time machine, Shakespeare with all his brilliance could neither understand nor could Chuck Berry ever explain without his guitar and duck walk, the power of rock n’ roll. As crazy as this sounds, churches and faith communities often try to do the equivalent with our faith life through their teaching, preaching, and religious education.
Scripture: an ancient libretto
In her latest work, The Lost Art of Scripture — Rescuing the Sacred Texts, Karen Armstrong reminds us that nearly all sacred writings were never intended for private reading. They were recited aloud or proclaimed in community, within rituals that included music, dance and dramatic enactments. Our private reading of scripture is akin to reading a libretto without ever having seen its opera– sort of like trying to tell a stranger about rock n’ roll.
As individuals and faith communities we cannot help but try to understand, explain or provide a rational basis for what we hold dear, for what holds our lives together, for what gives us meaning and purpose. Our faith needs to be a ‘faith seeking understanding’ (Augustine). Understanding is not the problem– it’s only when (left brain) understanding is separated from (right brain) affect, betraying the total human experience.
Do the Trinity! — a sacred old dance!
Trinity did not originate with scholars debating and discussing in a room, although that did happen much later causing rancor and division. Trinity arose from the followers of Jesus reflecting on His words and their experiences. Jesus distinguished himself from other teachers by referring to God as Abba— closer to ‘Papa’ or ‘Daddy’ than ‘Father.’ He taught his followers to address God by that title in prayer. Unlike the titles of Lord, King or Savior, Abba denotes an intimate relationship, and a common human experience. Jesus went further: he claimed to have a special relationship with God, to be One with Him. This struck many of his contemporaries as blasphemous. Jesus went further in John’s gospel: all of his disciples (us!) are called to experience that union with Him as He is one with the Father through his gift of the Holy Spirit.
Looking back on their history, the earliest disciples who were Jews, saw Jesus as the complete revelation of a God who had called them to be His people. After Jesus’ resurrection, the disciples were caught up in this union of empowering love. This revelation and experience had names, feeble as language can be, in Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Two hundred years later the description of three Greek theologians (the Cappadocians) of Father, Son and Spirit became part of our Nicene Creed. By the time we got it from Greek to Latin to English something was lost in translation: a dynamism, an energy that our English static words like “essence,” “nature,” and even “person” do not denote. Father–> Son –> Spirit was described more as an eternal dance of holy relationship, one giving way to another in complete union and constant love.
Let’s Dance!
For most of us Trinity (Father-Son-Spirit) was presented to us verbally as a teaching, dogma or article of faith, something demanding passive intellectual consent rather than active daring faith. A mystery calls us to awe, inquiry and participation rather than analysis and definition. What if our earliest catechesis, Sunday school, religion course invited us to dance, to participate in the eternal dance of holy relationship?
Dance is an appropriate metaphor for life. We spin seemingly in circles, often circling back to the same area but maybe to a different tempo or with a different partner. There are periods when our dance is graceful or awkward, slow or fast. Pain and vulnerability are part of the dance of life. Some partners leave us or dump us too soon before we thought our dance was finished. Conversely, we sometimes need to let go of our partners for our good and/or theirs. With long term partners we have our feet stepped on and we step on theirs. That said, indescribable love and joy are often at the heart of our dances of life.
Multiple triads are within this dance of life. The relationship between two partners is said to have an evolving life of its own. Our deepest experiences of relationships reflect the Trinity. As individuals, we have our true self, our persona and our relationship with our self. Our psychic structure has been defined Id, Ego and Super Ego– distinct, but one. We tend to describe healthy people as “one with themselves,” implying a union of distinct parts. Did we ever think of this as being created in the image of the triune God?
Currently racial injustice has our nation in the world’s spotlight. Its disgraceful horrors are now harder to conceal. While some protests are marked by violence, the majority of them and their participant are peaceful. People are coming together, black and white, young and old, sharing stories, creating relationships. These relationships, impacting their relationships with local and national government, can potentially change the face of our nation. Perhaps this can be seen as a dance of justice, a visible sign of the Trinity. We’ve seen national dances like these in our history. Some people are going to have their feet stepped on, but if the dance continues in truth, its fruit will be justice and love.
When our love of God is rooted in the discipleship of Jesus we experience the power of the Holy Spirit, an indwelling that spins us forward, or around, in an eternal dance of love. Can we get caught up in this dance? It’s not magic, but it’s hard to explain.
Our world, our nation does not need us to tell them anything. They rather long for our witness of our participation in holy eternal relationship.
Let’s dance!