Being weary of my "educational career" at that point, I wanted to try something that would be purely fun, so I signed up for a few classes in ballroom dancing. In just a lesson or two, I was hooked. When I was at dance class, I could leave all my books, and tests, and papers behind. The first few times in front of the mirror, I realized that I had grown totally unaccustomed to moving my body in any sort of uninhibited way. Just having to move along with someone else brought back memories of eighth grade dances where I wanted to die because I was so nervous. But my dance instructor persisted -- and thanks to a little help from my family, the three-lesson package turned into a commitment for several months. It wasn't long before my movements started to become more fluid, and I was trying to get the basic steps down in all the dances. As the months turned into years, I realized something strange - that I had never learned a name for any of these steps. It was my body that absorbed the movements, my spirit that embraced the dance -- anything academic or intellectual about it was far removed from my radar screen.

I was lucky. This was the way Pete Godfrey taught people to dance, and I just happened to find my way to his studio as a break from the pressures of Old Testament finals. Little does he know that it was this peculiar combination of dancing and seminary that would make me the kind of Pastor I am today. For those of us in the ministry who have wrestled with the demons of Greek and Hebrew, who have put up with the anxiety of passing Ordination exams, and who have mastered the art of biblical interpretation, there is a strong temptation to believe that one can control knowledge about God. The reality as I have come to understand it because of my extracurricular activity, is that we are entwined in a dance with God, and the way God's Spirit moves with our spirits is something of an artistic mystery. We may know or not know the names of the steps, but it is in being drawn into the dance that we will discover how God moves in us and with us. I don't know if I would have learned that had I not encountered the impassioned struggle of the tango, the ups and downs of the waltz, or the rhythmic beat of all the Latin dances -- my favorites.

In Mark's telling of the Jesus story, there's something of this element present. He opens his book by saying it is the beginning of the "gospel" story of Jesus Christ, and many times throughout he nuances the word. He talks about believing the "gospel" and losing our lives for the sake of the "gospel." Without knowing the impact that Jesus had on people's lives, it might not be easy to find a direct interpretation of what this word means. However, the details are only part of the story. The steps, named or unnamed, have to become a part of one's own story to begin to be true. One must feel their identity, move with their inner motion, and be drawn into a relationship with the amazing power of what this good news, this "gospel" sets free in each of us. We must dance the "gospel" dance!

In order to get at the heart of this word, even the most scholarly commentaries have to give way to much more intuitive language. In Paul Achtemeier's commentary on Mark, the interpretation of this word "gospel" comes alive. He says that Mark writes as though, "…… the gospel is something in which one is to place trust; it is something one may believe. In fact the call to believe the good news is itself a part of the preaching of the gospel…….Therefore, the gospel, as Mark uses that word, is more than a book, and more than a narrative or collection of facts. It is something for which one must be willing to sacrifice one's life, if one is to find that life." (Achtemeier, Paul, Mark, p. 64) The gospel is a call to new life, a call to dance the dance, a call to be known by Jesus Christ, and I'm convinced we are not free to hear that call with our noses pressed too closely in a book. We must, as Jesus says, be willing to lose the routine of our lives if we are to find the new life, saving our lives by doing every step perfectly and earning all "A's" just won't do it. We have to get out there and try life on our feet.

Dancing connected for me in a way that was altogether different from my studies, and for me that was life giving. It taught me how to believe in the "gospel" instead of just study it. Another biblical professor, Leonard Sweet, was interviewed online for Relevant Magazine and describes the gospel this way,

""I'm very conservative about some things. For example: For me, the Gospel is literally oxygen. There's a world out there that needs the breath of life, the Gospel. My job is to get out there to a world that's choking on pollution. But oxygen has to come in a tank! It has to be brought in a container.

So, the most important thing for me is to get oxygen out to these people who are panting, dying for the oxygen. I don't care how you get it to them. I don't care what container you use! We've got a lot of churches fighting over whether or not the oxygen's got to come in an iron lung! That's the mystery for me: Why is the church spending its time fighting over what kind of canisters you put the oxygen in? This is the only breath of life there is!"

Of course it was going to seminary that allowed me to be ordained as a Pastor in this particular denomination, but as the stern professor Achtemeier himself says, "The gospel is more than a book, more than a narrative or collection of facts. It is something for which one must be willing to sacrifice one's life."

In dancing with this one particular word this week, I found myself caught up in the music that bears the same name -- "gospel." When you think about it, Gospel music has its roots in the history of African Americans in this country, which is not an easy history to digest. These songs originated with the slave narrative and come from the experience of families being ripped apart, being beaten, sold as property, raped, killed, convicted for crimes for which the person was innocent -- and if you've ever heard a Gospel choir done in true African American tradition -- this music moves! While those of us with the power and prestige of the former Mainline Congregations sing a subdued "Halleluiah," Gospel choirs sing, clap, shout, dance and move to their tradition. When they sing, you KNOW it's good news! Of course there are the touching somber spirituals too like the Westminster Choir sang today (I Want Jesus to Walk With Me), but even then, there's a passion behind this type of music that shows a sense of irrational trust. Once these oppressed people got a hold of even a few words from the Christian tradition -- they could see how deeply it spoke to them. The words took the power of the oppressor and gave it to the oppressed. And I can hear their prayers in the prayer of the psalmist, "To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul. O my God, in you I trust." God truly becomes their God of salvation.

Now you may not all be dancers. You may not all favor the soulful rhythms of Gospel music -- but we all need to find the "gospel" chord, the connection to God's Spirit that surpasses any words. But it does take letting go. The "gospel" leads us, inspires us to believe, and then makes us so faithful that we become willing to die for its message. It doesn't happen the other way around. We cannot lead it, it leads us. Like I said in the beginning of my message, our culture, particularly our culture of success, teaches us to stay in control, in control of our grades, in control of our careers and families, in control of our destinies. We have even founded a church that prides itself on being "in control" by doing everything "decently and in order." My theory is that we need a "Book of Chaos" as a companion to our "Book of Order" as a reminder that God's Spirit will not be controlled no matter how many clauses and paragraphs we try to include in the latter.

We may not like that feeling at first. It's foreign to many Presbyterians, but it's familiar to those of us who long to be made human again. We need to enter the dance and become familiar with the Gospel truth that is as precious to us as oxygen. The good news is what will set us free from everything else that threatens to bind us. Again, the psalms remind us -- God's mercy, God's love has been there for us from the dawn of time, and yet it's us, not God, who will not let go of the transgressions of our youth. Let go, because God has already let go, and find that ALL, ALL of the paths of the Lord are steadfast love and faithfulness to those who keep God's covenants and decrees. Amen.