Teach Me to Dance

"Teach me to dance to the beat of your heart
Teach me to move to the power of your Spirit
Teach me walk in the light of your presence
Teach me to dance to the beat of your heart"

"Teach Me to Dance" lyrics by Greg Holland

As we did with Alpha last Spring, Beth and I started off our first !TNT! meeting this semester playing this song from a CD called Devotion by the African Children's Choir. We encourage the children to get up and dance and "get the wiggles out" before we get started. In the past, we have had few takers (other than our own daughter). This week, though, we had one new boy from our church and two new girls who first made connection with us via our VBS up in the Village.

I am no dancer, and in fact I grew up in one of those kinds of churches that viewed most dancing as sinful (unless, maybe, it was the Virginia Reel). It isn't easy for me to get up and move to music if anybody is watching me, even if they are young kids. But I needed to set the example, so I was up and moving to the music, and eventually they all got into it, sometimes even dancing with me.

I tend to approach life in a rather academic way, and I often confuse things of the spirit with things of the mind. I tend to think of discipleship as something that is taught, like algebra or history, but it is really a lot more like learning to dance, watching the Teacher and trying to move like he does.