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Should we be dancing in church? Well, if a recent study of the mind is correct, it appears when God created us He hard-wired each of us to dance -- more on that in a moment. But from a Christian perspective what purpose would this serve?
I still remember a service at the church I was attending in the 70s. The congregation was made up of people 30 years and younger. Back in then everybody had lots of hair including the girls. One particular Sunday evening service we kicked back the chairs and began dancing before the Lord. We broke up into groups, joined hands and began whirling around in circles dancing and singing. The thing that struck me the most was the utter joy and excitement on people's faces as they whirled around worshipping the Lord.
I was attending seminary during this time in a denomination that frowned on this type of activity. But they faithfully preached the Bible and people were saved through their ministry. I had a professor by the name of Dr. Dahns. He was a former United Church Minister and about straight laced as you could get. He was a tough marker, but a great Bible teacher.
While in class, I asked him what he thought about dancing in church. I confess, maybe I was baiting him to see his reaction. Blame it on my long hair. But his answer shocked me -- instead of being the shocker I was the shockee.
He said dancing was Biblical and he considered it an expression of joy. He added it was puritanical ideals that forced it out of the church.
Praise God in the dance
Dancing is certainly Biblical and perhaps the clearest references are found in Psalm 149:3 and 150:4, where we are exhorted to praise God in the dance.
"Let them praise His name with dancing;" (Psalm 149:3 NASV)
"Praise him with timbrel and dancing;" (Psalm 150:4 NASV)
In the Old Testament, dancing was an expression of victory, joy and thanksgiving to God and was often associated with victory in battle. We see the women meeting David's returning army after Israel's great victory over the Philistines (1 Sa 18:6). This procession had musical instruments, tambourines, dancers and singers. A similar procession welcomed the men after the victory over Ammon Jud 11:34.
A similar event took place after God delivered the Israelites from the hands of the Egyptians at the Red Sea. While the previous two references appear almost spontaneous, this one was certainly more structured and organized. After their deliverance, Moses gathered the congregation to sing a new song of praise celebrating the great victory. While the men sang, Miriam -- Moses' sister -- led the women in dance (Ex 15:20 ,21). Most of them had timbrels and were singing in response to the men's words (Ex 15: 20, 21). It was a powerful expression of praise and thanksgiving and clearly the dance was an integral part of this worship.
There are a number of other instances when dancing was associated with worship. In Jud 21:21, 23, the women of Shiloh danced in a nearby field. This was obviously a religious exercise and a regular enough occurrence the men of Benjamin used it to find wives.
Now some will suggest dancing is an Old Testament expression of worship and not for today. Well, if that's case what about prayer, praise and worship, teaching, singing, choirs and musical instruments -- all these and many others were also Old Testament religious expressions in common use today. Somehow these passed our not-for-today inspection.
Dancing abused
With our modern connotations of dance, it's difficult to separate dancing from it current profane cultural use. In fact, some have reacted negatively to dancing for that very reason. But even the Old Testament has similar conflicts where dancing was sexualized and abused.
When Moses went up Mt Sinai to receive the Ten Commandments his return was delayed. Fearing he had died, the Israelites pressured Aaron to make a golden calf. The Bible records the Israelites danced naked around the idol and from all descriptions it was nothing short of a sexual orgy mixed with idol worship (Ex 32:19, 25).
But even this act of abuse, did not disqualify dancing use in worship. Moses did not suddenly climb back up Sinai and come down with a eleventh commandment saying "Thou shalt not dance." Despite the abuses, dancing continued to be a valid way to express worship to God.
Men danced
Though dancing was primarily done by women at times men also participated.
In Jer 31: 10-14, God prophesying through Jeremiah speaks of a day when the Israelites who had been scattered to the nations will return. This momentous restoration will be marked by shouts of joy and dancing by both men and women. In this context the dancing was clearly an expression of joy.
"Then the virgin will rejoice in the dance, And the young men and old men together, For I will turn their mourning into joy." Jer 31:13 NASV)
We also know David danced before the Ark of the Covenant as it was brought back into Jerusalem (2 Sa 6:14, 16). He danced before the Lord with all his might. This took on the form of celebration including singing and a number of instruments (1 Ch 15: 27-29).
We are hot-wired to dance
But recent studies show God may have hard wired each us to dance in worship. Have you noticed when a catchy worship comes along your fingers start bouncing and your toes start tapping. It happens to me all the time.
In fact if researchers -- Prof Robert Zatorre and graduate student Joyce Chen -- at the University of McGill in Montreal, Canada are right, your mind encourages you to dance when you hear a catchy tune.
The researchers asked volunteers to listen to rhythmical music. While they were listening, they were hooked up to high tech magnetic resonance imaging machines (MRI) to monitor their brain activity while music was played.
The scan showed -- as expected -- the area of the brain which dealt with auditory flashed on, meaning their minds were processing the music. But another area also lit up and it was the area of the brain that controlled movement. This proved a bit baffling initially since the volunteers were not moving.
However, this suggested to the researchers the brain was trying to initiate movement in response to the music. This explains why when music plays many of us start tapping our fingers and moving our feet. Yes, it appears we a hard-wired to move when music plays.
If the science is right, at creation God put in each of us the urge to dance before the Lord.
Source: Brain to fee: 'Let's dance, guys' by Paul Taylor (The Globe and Mail: October 20, 2006)
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