Dancing with the Spirit

August 16, 2020 Proper 15 Matthew 15:21-28 The Rev. John Reese

We live in an embattled time. Conflicts in politics, problems with economics, and a global pandemic have put the icing on the proverbial cake of usual issues. Most of us already feel we are up to our necks in alligators. Now we are in hurricane season to boot. How much more can we take? How much longer can we fight?

Let’s face it. We are a tired, fatigued, tense, and nervous bunch right now. Just when we think we’ve ridden the final wave another rises up and heads right toward us. What shall we do?

When I think of prepping and preparing for adverse conditions, I think of athletes. Athletes train themselves not only physically, but mentally and spiritually, in order to accomplish ever more rigorous feats. But how do you handle a headwind? It’s the bane of runners and cyclists.  The majority of my bicycle route is north and east.  If the wind is out of the south or west, it’s just a mild annoyance.  But when the wind is coming from the north or east, I have to work harder, push more, bear down, tense up. This causes tension, fatigue, and exasperation.

Author/runner Jonathan Beverley says we should do exactly the opposite: lean in, relax, and allow the wind to dictate the pace. We must “dance in the wind.” Beverly learned this lesson from hawks he saw flying above the fields. He noticed that the raptors did not struggle against the headwinds, but they used the wind to do a kind of mid-air dance. They circled, they swooped, they twirled, they dove. They relaxed and played in the wind.

Their goal was not measured progress but play and enjoyment. They were masters at seizing the moment and “going with the flow.” Adapting to the wind. Adapting to life.

We too could learn some lessons from the birds when it comes to dealing with the hurricanes and wind-gusts of life. For our first instinct when adversity comes our way is to put up our dukes and fight, or to slink away and hide. Most of us bear down and bulk up and try to battle through. Despite living life through sun and storm, most of us still believe in our hearts that the “normal,” expected forecast for life should be “sunny, and calm without wind.” But that is not the way life, or weather, happens. We don’t live in a world without obstacles.

The “norm” for life includes windy days, occasional storms, cool breezes, and sometimes scorching waves of sun. We seldom have a day with no wind. This is what hawks know: life isn’t about struggling against a headwind to make progress, but about embracing the wind, dancing in the wind, relaxing into the wind, allowing the wind to guide your path.

Christian faith too is about relaxing into the wind, dancing in the wind, letting the “wind” guide our path. Our lives are guided, spirited, and buoyed up by the ever-present breath of God, the Holy Spirit.

Faith allows us to ride the winds of the Spirit, even when life gets rough. To navigate life with Jesus, we just need to relax and ride the waves. For our Master is Lord of the Dance. And we are His dance partners.

In today’s Gospel, we are introduced to a Canaanite woman who has been battling some very windy conditions.  Her daughter has been tormented by a demon.  She doesn’t know what to do.  She’s been dealing with this storm for a while. And so this pagan woman decides to do something bold and different for someone who is from the region of Tyre and Sidon. She approaches Jesus and asks for help.

Now the Jews did not have anything to do with pagans such as the Canaanites.  Nor did women address men in public.  But that did not stop this Canaanite lady.  She rode the wind of the Spirit and dared to talk with Christ.  And she was willing to share the fact that her daughter had a demon and was in need of healing.  Remember, in Jesus’ time, if one was thought possessed it was because of some sin of the victim or the victim’s family.  So this Canaanite woman was truly putting herself out there with this appeal to Jesus.  She’s a pagan, she’s a woman, and her daughter has a demon. And yet she dances with Jesus.

At first Jesus says, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel.”

The woman then kneels before Christ and says, “Lord, help me!”

But Jesus replies, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.”

The woman does not give up, though.  She continues the dance and says, “Yes, Lord, but even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table.”

And Jesus is convinced and answers her, “Woman, great is your faith. Let it be done for you as you wish.”  And her daughter was healed instantly.

Fear and the urge that we need to fight against the turbulent forces in our lives can leave us exhausted and depleted. At times, we either give up, drowning in our sorrows, or we rail harder and harder, becoming angry and bitter. Only when we have faith in a power stronger than the weather, stronger than our obstacles, stronger than our worries, stronger than the wind, can we begin to relax and ride the waves of our lives like a surfer on the sea.

In the Christian tradition, the Trinity –God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, is often described as a state of perichoresis, a unity of three together in interactive motion, three yet one. The word “perichoresis” is derived from the Greek peri, “around” and chorea, which refers to “a dance” especially the round dance with music. The idea of dancing gracefully around and around, so that the identities of the dancers flow and blend into one, is used to describe the intimate relationship between God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The dance of love and grace, the relaxed, wind-like dance of harmonious giving and receiving, ebbing and flowing, in sync together, is a kind of “love dance.”

When we rely on our faith, when we succumb to the winds of the Spirit, we enter into this holy love dance with God, with Jesus, with the Holy Spirit – a dance that brings joy to our lives and peace to our souls.

Wind dancing is the act of dancing as though you are a tree that can bend and flow. Faith is a kind of wind dance. A kite cannot soar without the dance. We cannot dance the dance of life without the wind.

Going against the wind doesn’t have to be a hardship. It’s only as hard as we make it. All we need to do is trust in Jesus and lay our lives before him. We can then begin to dance the Dance of Life. We can begin to find joy within sorrow, glitter in the dust, and play in the headwinds.

Being a Christian, surrendering your life to Jesus, doesn’t mean you don’t take the world seriously or feel the burdens of the world around you. It doesn’t mean you won’t face adversity or come up against some fierce challenges and headwinds. It does mean that when Jesus is your dance partner, you can turn the most undesirous force into an exciting adventure. For in the end, everything in the world must dance to the tune of the Creator. He is the Lord of the Dance. And you are His dance partner.