DO YOU HAVE SOMETHING TO DANCE ABOUT? (Psalms 149:3-4) "Let them praise his name in the dance: let them sing praises unto him with the(timbrel and harp. For the LORD taketh pleasure in his people: he will beautify the meek with salvation." (Eccl 3:4) "A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance..." (Luke 15:25)" Now his elder son was in the field: and as he came and drew nigh to the house, he heard music and dancing. " Since Biblical times, the Jewish or Hebrew people have expressed joy through dance. Throughout the centuries, dance has become a part of religious, communal, and family celebrations. The West African tradition is very similar to the Hebrew or Jewish tradition. There is a dance for each occasion in their society. African Americans are descendants from West Africa. If we shout in church or try to suppress that feeling, we are innocent. It comes to us from our Western African lineage. CONTEXTUAL ISSUE 'The problem facing us today interns of whether we should or should not shout or dance in church depends on what source we use as authority .There are three well known sources of Christian authority. They are the Bible, Church History, and tradition. The Judeo Christian tradition is a dancing rejoicing one. In the Aramaic language, which Jesus and the Jews spoke, the word for ‘rejoice’ and dance is the same.The Peshitta is the only authentic and pure text which contains the books in the New Testament that were written in Aramaic...However, the educated Black Clergy in the 1950s tended to try an emulate the White European style of service and consider that normative. They could not remember or respect their West African dancing heritage .Nevertheless; C.L. Franklin was educated and remained true to his culture .He maintained a great balance between intellect and spirit at that same time frame,' The Soul of Black Folk. ' Daniel A. Payne ,who served the A.M.E .Church as bishop from1852 to 1896 was well know for supporting a dry European form of service, because he wanted to be accepted by Whites .He considered shouting primitive.Unquestionably ,W.E.B. Dubois disagreed .He felt that Blacks should be true to their songs ,devotion ,spirit ,dance, preaching ,shouting, and style of worship .He felt that the genius of the Black style or genres would carry the race through the storms of life and have a major impact on the American cultural and world .He was the most educated Black at that time (1924).Dubois was correct .Most ethic groups are true to their cultural,'Henry Mitchell. We need a proper balance between intellect and spirit! "There are two types of Negro churches that have failed to provide the bread at midnight. One is a church that burns up with emotionalism and the other is a church that freezes up with classism. The former is a church that reduces worship to entertainment, and places more emphasis on volume than on content. It confuses spirituality with muscularity. The danger of this church is that its members will end up with more religion in their hands and feet than in their hearts and souls. So many people have gone by this type of church at midnight, and it had neither the vitality nor the relevant gospel to feed their hungry souls. The other type of Negro church that leaves men unfed at midnight is a church that develops a class system within. It boasts of the fact that it is a dignified church, and most of its members are professional people. It takes pride in its exclusiveness. In this church the worship service is cold and meaningless. ...The tragedy of this type of church is that it fails to see that worship at its best is a social experience with people of all levels of life coming together to realize their oneness and unity under God,"Martin Luther King,JR. COMMON DANCE-RING DANCE The Hebrew, West African, and the Black Slaves in America had this dance in common. It could be called the Stroll o f the early60s or the Electric Slide of the 80s.The ring dance was very common in the 1940s in some Black Churches .Bishop Payne condemned this dance after a visit to a church in Baltimore in 1878.He said, "After the sermon they formed a ring,and,with coats off sang,clapped their hands,stamped their feet in a most ridiculous and heathenish way... I believe King David would have joined in on some of the Holy Dances in the early Black Churches. He might be considered the first, “Full Gospel King.†THE OLD TESTAMENT ‘The Israelites danced both in worship in ordinary life and on occasions of triumphant victory and festivity. Of the forty-four words in the Hebrew language for dancing, the most frequently used root for the word ‘dance’ in the Old Testament is hull which refers to the whirl of the dance and implies highly active movement. The types of dances used in Israelite society included the circular or ring dance, as well as the processional dance. In Psalms 149 and 150, we are told to praise His name in the dance and with the timbre (tambourine),’ Denie Riggs. THE NEW TESTAMENT ‘The Bible tells us that worshipping God in the dance was accepted as a form of worship and on joyous occasions. The New Testament gives a few direct references to dance. Evidence of the use of dance as an accepted expression of joy is reflected in Jesus’ comment in Matthew 11:17 and in the parable of the prodigal son, when there was dancing and rejoicing on the son’s return. (Luke 15:25) There are more references to dance in the New Testament than originally thought. In the Aramaic language, which the Jews spoke, the word for ‘rejoice’ and ‘dance’ is the same. So when you include ‘dance’ with ‘rejoice,’ there are references to dancing and leaping for joy as well as ‘dancing in the Spirit’ all throughout the Bible. Dance was a vital part of worship in the early church. The Bible shows that in the first five centuries of the Christian church, dance was acceptable and very much a part of worship and celebration. After about 500 AD, as the church underwent changes, dance worship did as well,'KJV. 'Worship Dance was divided into two types: 1. Dance performed by priests and church leaders on special occasions. This was the beginning of the church being divided into laity and audience. Before this time, all men worshipped God on an equal basis. 2. The congregation danced circle sacred dances with the approval and guidance of the church. These were in conjunction with church ceremonies and festivals. The dances were usually performed to hymns or carols. ‘To carol’ means ‘to dance.’ Most carols were divided into the stanza meaning to ‘to stand’ and the chorus, which means ‘to dance.’ Thus during the chorus, the people danced and unless a solo dancer performed for the stanza, there was little movement when the stanza was sung. As time went by, the world began to slip into worship dance and pervert it. Dictators and church leaders eventually shut down worship dance, ’..Denie Riggs. DANCE UNTIL YOU FEEL BETTER...ITS GOOD FOR YOUR HEALTH.... I believe that God created dancing for praise and adoration for His people to give Him glory .I believe God created music, instruments and music for us to dance and rejoice. It is an entire body form of praise.Psychologists' research indicate that dance is an effective activity for promoting the health and well-being of individuals .If you disagree, you will have to remove the book of Psalms from the Bible and the day of Pentecost .People also rejoiced when Jesus healed them. There is no Biblical record where Jesus told people to sit quietly after he healed or blessed them. Those were some noisy rejoicing scripture. King David danced .James Brown says, “Dance until you feel better.†WEST AFRICAN DANCE—PRE DATES SHOUTING 'The term African dance refers mainly to the dances of subsaharan and West Africa. The music and dances of Northern Africa and the Sahara are generally more closely connected to those of the Near East A central trait of African Dance is that it is polycentric. This means that - unlike many other regions of the world - the body is not treated as a "stiff" unit but is segmented into several centers of movement (shoulders, chest, pelvis, arms, legs etc.) that may be moved according to different rhythmical components of the music or even add rhythmical components of their own. This may result in very complex movements "inside" the body, as opposed to the movement through space of the whole body that plays the most.The roots of African American Church shouting started here,' Wikipedia. DANCE DEFINED Dance defined in the New King James Open Bible is an emotional movement of the body. Dances that are pleasing to God are Christ centered. Original translations define dance as: twisting or whirling in a circular manner, to bring forth, shake, travail or to tremble. 'Hebrew words for Praise Barak (Judges 5:2) - meaning to bless, to praise, to kneel, and to salute. Halal (1 Chronicles 16:4) - meaning to shine, to be foolish, to rave, to celebrate and to boast. Shabach (Luke 19:37-39) - meaning to shout, to triumph, to command and to give glory. Dancing In the Church Celebration Dance - Jumping and leaping in celebration of Christ’s victory and majesty. A demonstration of our proclamation by lifting glory up to God with our whole being. Praise Dance - Praise is our faith in action. God ordained us to praise Him at all times. This is not only in song, but also in dance. (Psalm 146:1-3; Psalm 150:4) Prophetic Dance - A spontaneous dance inspired by the Holy Spirit. It is a dance which the people hear and see the message from God.It could be shouting. Travail Dance - A victory dance by faith, thanking God for answers to prayers before they are seen. It is confessing and showing that God is able to do exceedingly abundantly above anything. Warfare Dance - Movements that express warfare would be punching, stomping and kicking. Warfare dance would be done by faith to bring all types of breakthroughs. Worship Dance- An expression of awe, reverent fear and loving passion birthed from the spirit of the dancer to the Spirit of God. (Eccl 3:4) "A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance'...Hebrew History. ________________________________________ CONDEMNED DANCING Every instance of dancing that is not considered sinful was done in worship or praise to God. Here are some more principles to keep in mind in considering dancing: Ecclesiastes 3:4--There is an appropriate time to dance (and inversely an inappropriate time to dance). Psalm 149:3 & 150:4--Both passages mention that we can praise or worship God through dance. The only times that scripture condemned dance...is when God’s people were dancing before false gods. CONCLUSION In the book, “History of Gospel Music," a very interesting point was made. It stated that the problems that secular music was having in the 50s centered around the fact... that the black church's rocking and rolling was more than what happened in the night clubs. Ministers like C.L. Franklin and Julius Cheeks were allowing the spirit to have its way in churches. Groups such as the Caravan, Dixie Hummingbirds, Mighty Clouds of Joy and the Swan Silvertones where providing spirit filled people a rejoicing outlet. Then, James Brown switched from gospel to soul and took soul and the shout beat to the secular world. The secular world embraced it on the dance floors, all over the world. However, the rejoicing beat ...can not and will not ...be suppressed. The secular world even had a song called, "Why don't we shout.†It came directly from the Black Church. Churches can choose to be dead any dry; they certainly have that right. However, there will be side effects. These side effects will manifest themselves in the form of ...youth leaving traditional churches, Christian Centers popping up in your community, and T.D. Jakes coming to town with his crusade. He has a full gospel approach to his ministry. H e will allow people to let the spirit have its way. I have tried to present some information on this issue; the decision is yours to make. I don’t know about you, but I have something to dance about. When the spirit moves, I want to dance when the band is not playing. Sometimes, I feel like running, when no one is bothering me. Sometimes, I want to cry and I am not sad .Sometimes, I feel there is a fire burring deep down in my soul and I need to leap for joy. I feel the need to close this message, because I am and getting ready to dance and leap for joy right now. When I consider... how good the Lord has been to me, it makes me want to ...dance. Now, I understand why King David danced so much. WHY DON'T YOU DANCE UNTIL YOU FEEL BETTER Wikipedia KJV A Knock at Midnight: Inspiration from the Great Sermons of Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. Esco Yancey,Jr.,Ed.D. © 2007 GOSPEL TIMES MINISTRIES
