Mark's Notebook

Does God Dance?

Nothing but quotes; no original content here.

For almost two years, I've used the same "sig" line on my email:

I would believe only in a god who could dance.
 -- Friedrich Nietzsche

I thought this quote appropriate since I am both a Christian and a dancer. It expresses my hope that God might be a dancer also.

Responses to the line have varied. The dancers seemed to love it. Christians were taken aback that I would quote a heathen philosopher. One sincere Christian even sent me a link to a web site about how Nietzsche had started out as a Christian but had wandered from the light into the bleakest darkness. All true, but even that doesn't dilute my own hope that God might be joyous enough to dance, and my hope that in this small way I can reach out to my unsaved dancing friends.

Today I read the most wonderful passages from Steve Fry's devotional book I Am: The Unveiling Of God. The chapter is called "The God Who Celebrates," and here we go:

"God's joy knows no bounds. Zephaniah 3:17 says, "He will rejoice over you with singing." The word joy here is a pretty animated word. In the Hebrew, it literally means "to become excited to the point of dancing in a whirlwind." Most translators have chosen a less vigorous description for our English Bibles because they can't conceive of a God of such emotional intensity.

"We don't trust our emotions and therefore hesitate to ascribe to God any emotional fervor that would smack of imbalance. But in thinking this way about God, we miss one of the most precious attributes of his character -- that he gets so excited about you and me that he exhibitis the kind of joy that can only be captured in the imagery of a whirling dance.

"The Hebrews knew God not just as the God of covenant, but as the God of celebration. Again and again in the Psalms we find exhortations to rejoice. How would we be called to rejoice with such intensity except that God himself rejoices with such intensity?"

This book is worth the price for this one chapter alone.

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Last updated Monday 3 August 2009