"It's Hard to Dance with the Devil on Your Back" 2 Samuel 11:1-15, 12:1-9 preached at Presteign-Woodbine United Church July 26, 2015

In the spring, the time when kings go to battle, David sent Joab with his officers and the people Israel with him; they ravaged the Ammonites, and besieged Rabbah.  David stayed in Jerusalem.  Late one afternoon, David got up from his couch and was walking about on the roof of his palace; he saw from there a very beautiful woman bathing. He sent someone to ask who she was. He was told “She is Bathsheba, a daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite.”  David sent a messenger to bring her to him, and he lay with her, even though she was purifying herself after her period. She returned to her home, but later discovered she was pregnant, and sent a message to David.  David sent word to Joab, “Send me Uriah the Hittite.” When Uriah came, David asked how Joab and the people fared, and how the war was going. He said to Uriah, “Go to your home, wash the dust off your feet.” Uriah went out, David’s gift to him a homeleave. Instead, Uriah slept in front of the king’s house with all the servants, and did not go home. When David learned that Uriah did not go home, he asked, “Why didn’t you go home, after such a long journey?”  Uriah replied, “It is the Festival of Booths. The Ark, and Israel and Judah remain in booths;  Joab and the servants are camping in the open field; shall I then go home, eat and drink, bed my wife? As you live, and as your soul lives, I would not do that.”  So David said , “Stay here today too. Tomorrow I will send you back.” So Uriah stayed in Jerusalem. The next day, David invited him to dinner and got him drunk; he went out to lie on his couch with the servants, but he did not go home.

In the morning David wrote a letter to Joab, and had Uriah deliver it. In the letter he wrote, “Put Uriah in the front line where the fighting is worst, and then leave him, so that he will be struck and killed.” Then God sent the prophet Nathan to David. Nathan told a story. “There were two men in a city, one rich, the other poor. The rich man had many herds; the poor man had nothing but one little ewe lamb, which he had bought. He raised it, and it became a family member like his children; it would eat the small amount of food he could give, drink from his cup, cuddle with him, and was like a daughter to him. The rich man had company and did not want to use one of his own herd to prepare for his guest. He took the poor man’s lamb, and prepared that instead.” David became angry at this and said to Nathan, “As God lives, the man who has done this deserves to die; he shall repay that lamb fourfold, because he did such a thing with no conscience.” Nathan said to David, “You are the man! The God of Israel says this: I anointed you king over Israel, I rescued you from Saul;  I gave you his house, his wives and everything he owned; I gave you Israel and Judah and brought them together; and if that was not enough, I would have given more.  Why have you turned your back on God and done this evil? You have killed Uriah, and taken his wife as your own.”

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“I danced on a Friday when the world turned black,   

it’s hard to dance with the devil on your back,…”

People always want to be remembered in pictures looking their best, don’t they?  Don’t we??? I have a friend on Facebook who always presents her best side to the camera…she is a beautiful woman from either side, in fact; but somehow only one side of her face gets the most exposure. We don’t like spontaneous photos as a permanent record of what we look like -  we don’t want to be caught when we just crawl out with bed-hair, or someone pops a camera and we haven’t combed our hair or don’t have any makeup on.

What if a movie were made of our lives, but in order to sell the movie, our most embarrassing and humiliating sins were published in graphic detail! Let’s say you read in the Church Newsletter that a video of your steamy life will be shown during coffee time! Would you be there to watch??? I don’t think so. We want our best side in the viewing eye.

The Bible gives us two totally different portraits of David. One is in 1st Chronicles, Chapter 11 where the story of David the great king is told. In this portrait, the story of David is recorded much like those wonderful paintings of military heroes, in full uniform, a Napoleonic conqueror, a spiritual national icon with no failings at all!

The other portrait of David is in today’s text from Samuel. This is the person who, as a boy, had courage to kill an enemy, who as a man and king was not afraid to dance in front of the Ark of the Covenant, all the way into Jerusalem, who loved God and was a just and honest man. This is also the dancing king whose wife Michal saw him dancing with abandon, and despised him. There’s a picture of David’s life right there – a marriage with no love. He had all of Saul’s wives, concubines, possessions – and became a king. This is the stuff that movies are made of - a man caught in his most sinful, and humiliating person.

In this story it’s spring and time for the armies to go out and beat on each other. So David’s army is out in the thick of battle. Even though David should be, he isn’t. He is the military leader, but he isn’t there – I noticed even when reading Chronicles that the names of the leaders who won the battle for David are given. Instead of being with his troops, David is back in Jerusalem-withdrawing from the action. It’s been suggested that the enormous success has gone to his head, and instead of recognising the role of God in this dance he has perhaps abandoned his faith, begun dancing to a different tune.
So David is walking on his palace veranda and there sees Bathsheba, taking a bath to purify herself. He sends for his personal servant to find out who she is. And the servant says:

“Isn’t this Bathsheba, daughter of Eliam, wife of Uriah the Hittite?"

Now normally the answer would be - "this is so and so, the daughter of so and so and the granddaughter of so and so." The servant points out that she is the wife of someone. It’s a tiny but telling detail – the servant is saying as plainly as possible without losing his life, "Sir, the lady’s married."

But, she’s beautiful and he’s king and figures he can do as he wishes, so he sends for her, sleeps with her, discards her and sends her home. One could probably make a case for rape, since she would have no option to refuse. David does the dance of a king who is taken with himself, and whose judgment and sense of appropriate boundaries is now flawed.

About a month later Bathsheba realises she is pregnant and tells David. David gives Uriah a month’s leave, sure that they will unwittingly solve the baby problem. Uriah, however, is an ethical man who will not enjoy comfort while the men he commands are risking their lives on the field of battle; instead he sleeps in the servant’s quarters. Next, David gets Uriah totally drunk, but still Uriah insists on staying in the servant’s quarters.  David knows that once it becomes evident Bathsheba is pregnant, Uriah is going to know the baby wasn’t his. In a final act of desperation, David sends Uriah to the battle with a letter for Joab, David’s military commander. "Put Uriah right on the front line," orders David. Within the hour, Uriah is dead. Bathsheba barely gets through the mourning period when David brings her to the palace and puts her with his other wives.

So that’s the portrait of David you won’t find in 1 Chronicles. A man who danced for and with God, reduced to doing a tap dance around having a husband killed because he just had to have the man’s wife. Instead of being a man of faith, David has begun to believe he is a god himself. Instead of dancing for God, now dancing into the bedroom having taken the wife of someone else just because he could.

Enter Nathan the preacher/prophet.  David has no idea that he’s hearing a morality sermon; he’s not in a synagogue listening to a rabbi. Nathan tells this story about a rich guy with large flocks of sheep, who arrogantly takes the pet lamb of a poor neighbour’s family down the road, kills it and serves it up as the main entrée to his guests.

David is outraged that such a selfish and cruel thing could happen, and says the man should be put to death sentence. Nathan says calmly, "You are that man!"

With each word in Nathan’s story, David becomes more incensed until finally he hears real truth - You are that person. You! David’s dance has become upfront and personal. David is dancing with the devil on his back – and he didn’t know it till Nathan smacked him in the face with it – and story he could not deny. It’s hard to dance with the devil on your back.

A gospel – good news is told in this story too. We’re created by God in God’s own image. But we are not God ourselves. Every time we lose the boundaries and think we are God, we have to dance with the devil on our backs – and it gets harder and harder. Dancing isn’t for joy or praise any more, it’s a dance of death. David started thinking he was God.

More David, less God. The more David behaves as if he is God, the less visible God becomes. David treats Bathsheba as if he is God, owning her and giving her no choice. He gives death commands to Joab, and acts as if he is God with Uriah, determining his fate.

David knew he was doing something wrong. Somewhere along the way he had stopped prayer and his faith life, he had stopped dancing the dance of life for God. He tried to cover his actions, and when that didn’t work, he got even deeper in and committed murder by proxy. Somewhere along the line he had withdrawn from commitment to God.

But there is grace, too. Nathan tells a story which makes David aware of God again. Psalm 51 is David’s God-recovery psalm. He learns that God never gives up on human beings. Our once-broken bones can dance again. Hear David’s words…..

"Create in me a clean heart, God, put a new and right spirit within me.
Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and sustain in me a willing spirit."

May it be so.

Sources:

1.      Deep Wounds in the Family a sermon on David and Bathsheba, 2 Sam 11:1-15, 12:1-9
by Rev. Thomas Hall

2.      Psalm 51 vs. 10 and 12 paraphrase

3.   Exerpt from  "Lord of the Dance" by Sydney Carter.

Lord of the Dance 2 Samuel 6:12-19 Presteign-Woodbine United Church July 12, 2015

 King David was told, “God has blessed the household of Obed-edom and all that belongs to him, because of the Ark of God.” So David went and brought the ark of God from the house of Obed-edom to Jerusalem; and when those who carried the ark had gone six paces, he sacrificed an ox and a fat calf. He danced before God with all his might wearing a linen ephod. David and all the house of Israel carried the Ark with shouting, and with the sound of the trumpet. As the Ark of came into Jerusalem, Michal, Saul’s daughter, looked out of the window, and saw David leaping and dancing, and she despised him. They brought in the Ark of God, and set it inside the tent David had pitched for it; and David offered burnt offerings and offerings of well-being. Then David blessed the people in the name of the Lord of hosts, and distributed food among all the people, both men and women; to each a cake of bread, a portion of meat, and a cake of raisins.

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Back in the 70’s and early 80’s, as a liturgical revolution took place, liturgical dance began to make a reappearance. There was a lot of controversy about dancing in church. Many thought it ‘unseemly’. Yet dancing is a biblical form of worship. In the Hebrew Scriptures, folks pushed the tables back and got the instruments out for weddings, funerals, bar and bat mitzvahs, birthdays  – just about any occasion.

In terms of Biblical reference to dance, well – we have today’s story of David dancing as the Ark of the Covenant is brought. Then there is Psalm 149: 3 “Let them praise God’s name in the dance; let them sing praises with tambourine and harp.” Psalm 150 is the one text in the Bible which gives directions for public worship:

“Praise God! Praise the Holy in the sanctuary;
    praise God in the mighty heavens!
Praise God for mighty deeds; for surpassing greatness!

 Praise God with trumpet sound; with lute and harp!
Praise God with tambourine and dance, with strings and pipe!
Praise God with clanging cymbals, with loud clashing cymbals!”

Well, we in the church have had a problem with our sense of propriety and restraint, haven’t we? When was the last time you danced for God? It’s just not dignified, is it, to do the Charleston, or the Twist, or even a waltz, every time we pray?

When I was young, some members of my extended family did not wear makeup, go to movies, and for sure they didn’t dance in church – I suspect (though I don’t know) they didn’t dance at all. In some churches people were taught that dancing was actually "worldly" and Christians could not do worldly things - no matter how much fun they were. In fact, the more fun they were, the more ‘wordly’ (read ‘evil’) they were. Well, being a rebel – and my parents were too, thank goodness -  I love to dance, anywhere, any time. Dancing is good and right.

So this morning, David is dancing before the Lord, because God’s presence is being paraded into Jerusalem. He’s got plenty of reason to dance. His kingdom is united - the north and the south are finally glued back together. He’s got a neutral city – Jerusalem - that allows both groups to gather. But we need to step back just a tad, in the story, so the reading makes a bit more sense.

As this little parade gets closer to Jerusalem, someone tries to steady the ark with his hand, and he falls down and dies. The dancing and the parade stops. The Ark of the Covenant isn’t going any further. God’s presence and holiness is dangerous.

So the ark gets stashed away in the garage of Obed-edom. But Obed, rather than dying, prospers, and his 60-something wife suddenly gets pregnant. Obed’s weed-infested fields are covered with flax. Good things are happening in Obed’s life, and it seems they must be somehow connected to the box containing God’s presence that sits in Obed’s garage.

So David decides he is going to bring this unusual box back to Jerusalem after all, knowing that one person has already died. His risk pays off  -  and he has the promise that God is again present with the Israelites. Excited by the success, David dresses in something called an ephod – a linen winding garment reserved for priests (perhaps like a loincloth), which leaves little to the imagination when one is dancing. David puts on an ephod and begins to dance around the Ark, capering and skipping – and of course is critised by his wife Michal for being undignified – a king should not do such things.

Is this just a story about dancing in church? About maybe loosening up a little and throwing out a few hallelujahs here and there, about movement and celebration? Is it about breaking loose from our Methodist-Presbyterian-Congregational ethos as a denomination – forged in serious social justice, and determined long face? Or is there more to it? Is it possible to dance with the devil on our back? When the diagnosis of cancer is terminal, with only a few months to live? When head injury at 13 causes interminable seizures which get worse and worse, until by 18 you have lost all your high school and can’t function. Or when the one you’ve loved for so long has been unfaithful, and there is a rift in the marriage which cannot be repaired? Or an only child has died in a tragic automobile accident? Or a family endures a third suicide? Is it possible to dance with the devil on your back?
Maybe David discovered that God calls us to the dance floor not because things are going well for us, but because of who God is. Maybe David could dance when no other officials would be caught dead doing it, because he became truly aware of God’s presence – in both the good times, and ill times – and that was really what mattered. In the face of suffering dance becomes an act of deep conviction that, in the words of our New Creed “we are not alone, we live in God’s world. In life, in death, in life beyond death, God is with us. We are not alone."

In writing the lyrics to the hymn "Lord of the Dance" in 1963, Sydney Carter was inspired partly by Jesus, partly by a statue of the Hindu God Shiva in the dancing pose Nataraja, which sat on his desk, and also partly to give tribute to Shaker music – the tune is called “Simple Gifts”. He later stated, "I did not think the churches would like it at all. I thought many people would find it pretty far flown, probably heretical and anyway dubiously Christian. But in fact people did sing it and, unknown to me, it touched a chord ... Anyway, it's the sort of Christianity I believe in."

He wrote:

“I see Christ as the incarnation of the piper who is calling us. He dances that shape and pattern which is at the heart of our reality. By Christ I mean not only Jesus; in other times and places, other planets there may be other Lords of the Dance. But Jesus is the one I know of first and best. I sing of the dancing pattern in the life and words of Jesus.

Whether Jesus ever leaped in Galilee to the rhythm of a pipe or drum I do not know. We are told that David danced, and as an act of worship too, so it is not impossible. The fact that many Christians have regarded dancing as a bit ungodly does not mean that Jesus did.

The Shakers didn't. The first Shakers came from Manchester in England where they were sometimes called the "Shaking Quakers". They went to America in 1774 and established celibate communities - men at one end, women at the other; they met for work and worship. Dancing, for them, was a spiritual activity.”

And he wrote “Sometimes, for a change, I sing the whole song in the present tense. 'I dance in the morning when the world is begun...'.

Lord of the Dance (present tense version)

I dance in the morning when the world is begun,
I dance in the moon and the stars and the sun,
I come down from heaven and I dance on the earth,
at Bethlehem I have my birth .

Dance, dance, wherever you may be,
I am the lord of the dance, says he,
and I lead you all, wherever you may be,
and I lead you all in the dance, says he.

I dance for the scribes and the Pharisees,
They will not dance, they will not follow me
I dance for fishermen named James and John
They come with me and the dance goes on.

I dance on the Sabbath, and I cure the lame,
some holy people say it is a shame;
they rip, and they strip, and they hang me high
and leave me there on the cross to die.

I dance on a Friday when the world turns black ,
it's hard to dance with the devil on your back;
They bury my body, they think I’m gone,
but I am the dance, and the dance goes on

They cut me down and I leap up high,
I am the life that will never, never die.
I'll live in you if you'll live in me
I am the Lord of the dance, said he.

Have you danced lately? Danced a dance in God’s honour, danced for joy? Danced out of your grief? We are called into a dance with the one we follow, Jesus, who says "May I have this dance with you?" May we be able to dance, in all ways, in all times, and all places – for the love of the One who calls us out, onto the dance floor of life. Amen.

Sources:

1.      . . And David Danced With All His Might a sermon based on 2 Samuel 6:12-19
by Rev. Thomas Hall   

2.      Lord of the Dance – Sydney Carter 1963, and writings by Sydney Carter.

3.      A New Creed, United Church of Canada. 1968  23^rd General Council. Amended 1980 and 1994.

"It Aint' Necessarily So"

‘ It ain’t necessarily so, it ain’t necessarily so. The things that you’re liable to read in the Bible, they ain’t necessarily so.’ (George and Ira Gershwin, “Porgy and Bess”, 1935)

Several  years ago I was asked to preach at a downtown church, on Pride Sunday. It was a congregation with many gay people, some of whom were my friends, and I was asked to address gay marriage.I started looking for something to address Biblical texts in their original context and happened upon a paper by Rev. Dr. Walter Wink, a well-known biblical scholar. (See link) His paper provided just what I needed – a kind of de-bunking of those texts which are consistently lifted out of context and then misinterpreted. 

So let’s go with Leviticus -  ‘a man shall not lie down with a man as with a woman’.  At the time this was written, it was believed that men carried all of the ‘seed of life’, and simply implanted that into a woman who then provided an incubating space for it to grow. Otherwise the woman’s role was nil. So relationships between women are not included in Leviticus at all.

Now, these were people who had left slavery and oppression for a new life in a new land, but they were a minority. They took the command to be fruitful and multiply seriously. For a man to waste the ‘seed of life’, either through a relationship with another man, or masturbation for example – was an abomination. Note that it wasn’t the relationship or the action which was abomination but the wasting of life. Women, and presumably eunuchs, didn’t count . Both were property. Neither had anything to do with procreation, hence not important.

Today, we know that women are as much a part of procreation as men.  However, marriage is not just about procreation – if it were we would be preventing anyone who cannot procreate from getting married. For me, the most important part of marriage is the expression of human love. Through the person of Jesus, who Christians claim to follow, the old understandings were removed, and a new ethic came into play – the ethic of love. When asked about the greatest commandment, Jesus used two things: the Sh’ma – “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul and all your might; and the second is love your neighbour as yourself. On this hang ALL of the law and ALL of the prophets.”

There is a misinterpretation going around which says that somehow pastors will be *forced* to perform same-gender marriages. Nothing could be further from the truth. Canada has recognised same-gender marriages since 2005 – and those clergy who disagree have not been affected in any way. The people who are affected are the people who are asking to be able to enter into committed loving and legal relationships. My marriage is not threatened; and if your marriage is so weak that you think it is threatened, then there is something already wrong within your own relationship. This ruling does one thing - it recognises love as the one ethic which permeates the entire Bible and the Christian faith – love, actually.

http://forusa.org/content/homosexuality-bible-walter-wink

"Family"

Last night, a wonderful family member died.  It was sudden and unexpected news for us. We will be home in time for the celebration of his life.

In 1970 my imagination was captured by a mission education curriculum developed by the United Church of Canada, called “Live Love”. The premise was simple – we are known by how we live with and relate to other people, not by the words of faith which we speak. Having decided not to become a concert pianist  - too much time on the road  –  I decided instead to go overseas with the church to teach music, and there met my husband, Norio.

Just before I left for Japan, I was invited to dinner with an aunt and uncle in Toronto. They were just a little dismayed that their niece, my cousin Jane, was marrying “a Japanese”. They were concerned that because he was Japanese there would be too many cultural differences and the adjustment would be too difficult. I can still hear my aunt talking about what a nice young man he was, how much they liked him, and then a pause…….”but he’s Japanese.”  Cross-racial marriages just weren’t happening often at that time. Norio and I were married a year later, and I remember wondering what my aunt and uncle thought of that as well.

Fast forward to 1984, when Norio and I moved with the kids to Toronto. We were ecstatic to learn that there was a Saturday Japanese language school where our four boys could continue in Japanese studies. At the end of that school year, June 1985, there was a big celebration lunch where awards were given. My mother was visiting, and we were seated at a table with a first-generation Japanese couple. Introductions – my mother said “My name is Kay Vickers.” The other woman said “Vickers. My daughter-in-law was a Vickers before she married our son Allan. I wonder if you are related? Her name is Jane.” 

There are no coincidences in life, I am convinced. Fifteen years later, back in Toronto,  we meet the family of my cousin Jane, married to Allan Watanabe. Jane was just being ordained in the Anglican Church of Canada. I was working at the United Church National Office. We became fast friends with the Watanabes. At family gatherings Allan and Norio stood over the barbecue joking about themselves as “the Japanese houseboys”.  Jane joked that Mrs. Watanabe loved me because I could speak Japanese.  The Watanabes had been instrumental in creating the Japanese Heritage Language School, where anyone, regardless of ethnic background, could learn the language. I taught adults there for three years. My kids were thrilled that they had half-Japanese cousins.

Although he was ‘family by marriage’, Allan was more than that. He was *family*. His parents were *family* - as much as any of my relatives by birth.  There’s a big hole in our family now – and he will be missed. A lot. Family means many things – being related by blood is only one part of ‘family’.  So many other things are so much more important. Goodbye, Allan – we are going to miss you. A lot.

Ants!!!!

Yesterday I was sitting on the lounge chair by the pool, with Norio, having a glass of wine, and munching on some potato chips we found in the cupboard. The idea in this house is that whatever is there is to be used – no matter which guest buys it or leaves it. So,  little bits of potato chip dropped to the bricks, and before long the ants arrived. We sat for a good half hour watching as they came and picked up a crumb of chip, and trotted that crumb away. One ant picked up a piece really too big – staggered along heroically – until another ant came up and took the other side, and together they moved the big piece of chip off to their nest. Yet another ant decided to *pull* a large piece, rather than try to carry it. One can learn a lot from ants.

I’d almost forgotten, till this reminded me, of the day I was sitting in the bathroom in Viet Nam, for about three hours – watching ants move the carcass of a finally-dead cockroach.  Roaches in Viet Nam were a good three inches long and could fly. (Shudder.) Norio had sprayed and whacked this one, and was about to burn it and flush the ash down the drain ( the only way, he said, to be sure it was really dead) when the ants came out. One by one they lined up at the tail end of the roach. Two ants got on top – one at the front and one at the back. Then another group of ants came to the front end. They began to move the roach – pushing from the back and pulling from the front. The two on top ran back and forth transmitting orders. Seriously. As they moved off the floor and up the wall, more ants were directed to the back end to push up. When the carcass started to slide, even more ants were called in. It was an amazing exercise in co-operative community. I don’t buy the notion that this is only instinct. If that’s the case, why do humans not rely on such collaborative instinct more, instead of less.

Too often we in ministry see congregations tear the carcass apart rather than collaborate and share. We see people willing to let go of a church rather than change their perspective to help it move ahead. Often the change in perspective doesn’t mean the death of that congregation – although it might, and that’s not a bad thing – but it does mean the death of the way things are done, and a good clean sweep of the old dusty places. Don't get me wrong, sometimes congregations have to close and die - but not always.

It seems to me ants are aware that the only way to accomplish something for the good of the community is to both push and pull. It might require innovation. I guess that’s the point – the carcass has to be got to the nest, one way or the other.  It might not even be the way they’ve done it before.  Somehow, as I watch ants, I don’t get the feeling ‘how we’ve done it before’ comes into the equation.

People attach so much meaning to places that eventually the place becomes their reason for being. As a young married woman, still living in Viet Nam, I was irked incredibly when a friend in Winnipeg asked me when I was going to ‘come home and settle down'. My answer was ‘Home is wherever I am.'  In the church Jesus said “wherever two or three are gathered…”. “Church” is not a place, for me, it’s a people – and that means it doesn’t matter where we are. What matters is how we live and collaborate with each other. If we cannot do that, the physical place – the building -  is truly meaningless.  It’s wonderful to be able to say “My mother was married here, I was married, here, my kids were baptised here and now they are getting married here too.” Yes. Wonderful. Lots of good memories. But is it critical for the future???? It should not be. We need to take a lesson from the ants – and learn how to work together for the good of us all. If each congregation (aka anthill) could do this, collaborate – with each other and with our neighbourhood, wouldn’t there be a huge difference in how our neighbourhoods and churches are shaped? I wonder......