Worship Arts July August September 2022

Let your movement be sacred because you have spent time with the One who created you to move .

find our authority in understanding how to find God in the music, instead of finding what we want to express about it for God. This may have been the downfall of liturgical dance in some of our churches. The mistaken ownership that some place on their ability to dance, versus one of a clear understanding of their divine authority, causes some to forget that God gives all gifts. 1 When functioning in ownership and self-ability, it is clearer who is minister and who is leader. If it is leader – focusing on self – this may limit the authenticity that the liturgical dance is able to offer the dancer and the people. As liturgical dance ministers, when God and the Holy Spirit are in our view it initiates a right rela tionship where we experience being vulnerable before God. The Word tells us that Jesus Christ asked God to give us an advocate to help us and be with us forever. 2 We cannot minister apart from God. We cannot wor ship apart from God. Thomas Krosnicki says this ritual element, if it is to be truly genuine, is to have a ministerial nature and serve the entire community at prayer, flow from the community itself in authenticity, visibility, and cultural expression of the inner faith stance. It is artistic expres sion with the entire human body. The spirit seeks to transcend the personal bonds of the corpus and mani fest in a profound yet subtle manner, through the inner movements of the human spirit responding to the Spirit of God. 3 When we draw on our authority as liturgical dance ministers we find our divine right to proclaim in artistic form the Word of God. We are able to discern through prayer in the Holy Spirit, enhancing our ability to create inner movement that is for , and not to God. Briefly, let us turn our attention to an essential element, worship. Worship may be understood as the natural movement of our bodies as living sacrifice unto God. 4 Consider the expansion and compression of our lungs. This natural movement initiates a holy experi ence. David expressed, “Praise him with the tambou rine and dance. Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord!” 5 Every time we breathe we praise God with the same breath that was breathed into Adam and Eve. 6 The same way we freely breathe we are being challenged by God to worship. When liturgical dance ministers arrive at this kind of spiritual aware ness they move from leading natural movement to authority to offer sacred movement.

The sacred movement phase Here sacred movement defines the inner develop ment and purpose of the movement we create. Carolyn Deitering, in her book The Liturgy as Dance and the Liturgical Dancer , says, “Dance is metaphorical and literal where ministers develop celebratory movements to engage and unite worshipers who embrace prayer movements with uncommon sensitivity and dance artists who glorify God and serve the total liturgical action.” 7 Deitering introduces the importance of inte gration. Sacred movement comes from within when it serves to draw out the truth of Jesus Christ’s holy voice from within us. Sacred movement does not serve the purpose of glorifying the self. Its purpose is to offer a fresh and visual expression of Jesus’ teachings that of fers a word specific to our church cultures. It offers an opportunity to transcend the language barrier that may be present in words of a sermon, to see through the eyes of our hearts. This special way of expression in move ment finds the dancer and the viewer in those quiet places that otherwise may never be accessed. That is where God is glorified by our praise. Sacred movement is about serving others. Liturgical dance ministers: in your sacred movement adorn yourself modestly and respectfully. This makes you authentic and a representation of the God you are serving and offering. We are not before the people of God for show. We are there to show the heart of God, to ignite the inner fire within those looking to us for a word from God’s Holy Spirit. Let your movement be sacred because you have spent time with the One who created you to move. Let your dance retell the Story by the leading of God’s Holy Spirit. Let your sacred movement transform you from the inside and in turn transform others from the inside.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________ 26 July-August-September 2022 • WorshipArts • umfellowship.org