Sing and Dance
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Sing and Dance!
September 25, 2011
by Stephanie Friant
Exodus 15:1-21
15Then Moses and the Israelites sang this song to the Lord:
‘I will sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously;
horse and rider he has thrown into the sea.
2 The Lord is my strength and my might,
and he has become my salvation;
this is my God, and I will praise him,
my father’s God, and I will exalt him.
3 The Lord is a warrior;
the Lord is his name.4 ‘Pharaoh’s chariots and his army he cast into the sea;
his picked officers were sunk in the Red Sea.
5 The floods covered them;
they went down into the depths like a stone.
6 Your right hand, O Lord, glorious in power—
your right hand, O Lord, shattered the enemy.
7 In the greatness of your majesty you overthrew your adversaries;
you sent out your fury, it consumed them like stubble.
8 At the blast of your nostrils the waters piled up,
the floods stood up in a heap;
the deeps congealed in the heart of the sea.
9 The enemy said, “I will pursue, I will overtake,
I will divide the spoil, my desire shall have its fill of them.
I will draw my sword, my hand shall destroy them.”
10 You blew with your wind, the sea covered them;
they sank like lead in the mighty waters.11 ‘Who is like you, O Lord, among the gods?
Who is like you, majestic in holiness,
awesome in splendour, doing wonders?
12 You stretched out your right hand,
the earth swallowed them.13 ‘In your steadfast love you led the people whom you redeemed;
you guided them by your strength to your holy abode.
14 The peoples heard, they trembled;
pangs seized the inhabitants of Philistia.
15 Then the chiefs of Edom were dismayed;
trembling seized the leaders of Moab;
all the inhabitants of Canaan melted away.
16 Terror and dread fell upon them;
by the might of your arm, they became still as a stone
until your people, O Lord, passed by,
until the people whom you acquired passed by.
17 You brought them in and planted them on the mountain of your own possession,
the place, O Lord, that you made your abode,
the sanctuary, O Lord, that your hands have established.
18 The Lord will reign for ever and ever.’
19 When the horses of Pharaoh with his chariots and his chariot drivers went
into the sea, the Lord brought back the waters of the sea upon them; but the
Israelites walked through the sea on dry ground.20 Then the prophet Miriam, Aaron’s sister, took a tambourine in her hand;
and all the women went out after her with tambourines and with dancing.
21And Miriam sang to them:
‘Sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously;
horse and rider he has thrown into the sea.’
Let us pray.
Gracious Lord, open our minds and hearts so that we may hear your word. Let it sink deep into our bones so that we may be moved. Amen.
Just in case you don’t know who I am, because you were gone this summer, I am Stephanie Friant. I started here in June on staff as the Senior Adult Visitation person. What does that mean? Well, primarily, I visit or actually I am graciously invited into the homes of, some of our members who have less ability to get around. But, I also get to meet other members of our congregation and am blessed greatly by their stories and by who they are. So if you have any recommendations of people I should visit, I am all ears.
Well this morning we are blessed by this amazing group. So we can get back to them, I am going to keep this short (laughter) for today we are cheering on Barbary Coast. We are clapping our hands, tapping our toes, and even as my son would do, shaking our booties a little bit. We are thanking them for the gifts God has given them and the gifts they are giving us. Often this is what we do. We thank people who give us gifts, who bless us. You say “Thank you.” We acknowledge them in some way. But, unfortunately, I think the way of Miss Manners kind of gets lost. Often we just say thank you and move on to our next thing. Sometimes we post a thank you on Facebook, a mention of what a great time we had. I think in our hectic busy lives we often forget to really, truly express how meaningful that blessing is or was to our life.
Now, today, this service, as well as our Scripture, is a wonderful reminder that thanking, not just being thankful, but the act of thanking someone is important. Now for us “God Chicks,” there is something really cool about today’s Scripture. While this section starts out with Moses and all the Israelites praising God, at the very end you remember that it was Miriam and the women who brought out the tambourine. Specifically it was Miriam, the prophet, and those women who danced and sang this song, which even if I had sung it, it would not do it justice. And along with this ancient tradition, we can confirm that this is not the only time that the women got out there and really used their whole souls, their whole beings, dancing and singing and embracing the blessings they have received; but also in Judges 5 is the song of Debra. That song actually is the oldest part of the entire Bible.
So this tradition of thanking God, this tradition of not just saying “Thank you, God,” but putting your whole life, your whole soul, into it, not caring who saw you dance, goes back to our very roots, our ancient roots of our relationship with God.
Now I am not going to expect that any of you are going to get up and dance—some of you, go ahead—but you know, some of you are not, I understand; but I think we need to take a cue from these women—not just us God Chicks, but you guys, too. What have we been blessed with? How has God blessed you? Perhaps it has been a long and glorious marriage like the fifty year anniversary of Dean and Charlotte Wilmot. Perhaps it was a beautiful life like Tillie’s, as she felt blessed to the very end and when she went home because she knew she was surrounded by God’s love. Perhaps it is the fact that we have a church to go to, a family to come to in Faith. Perhaps it is the fact that we just get to wake up in the morning. If we list all our blessings, I don’t think we would ever have enough time in our lives to get them all down on paper. So is it enough to thank God with a simple thank you? Or do we need to take those blessings and use our whole body, use our whole soul, our whole mind, everything that we have, to thank God?
So how are you going to thank God? How are you going to use your life to thank God? How are you going to sing and dance a song of thanksgiving?
Let us pray.
Gracious God as you continue to bless us, open our hearts so that we may receive the inspiration from the Holy Spirit. Guide us in how we may thank you for your unending love. Amen.