A chord struck from my own history...

-
on this historic day. That beautiful piece, an arrangement of "Simple Gifts" played by the quartet today brought me back to my childhood. I was raised in the Lutheran church and went to Lutheran schools most of my youth. At one of our camps (6th grade, I think) we learned a song, sung to the tune of "Simple Gifts". It made me weepy as a child, and still does today:

Lord of the Dance

words by Sydney Carter, music traditional

I danced in the morning when the world was begun
I danced in the Moon & the Stars & the Sun
I came down from Heaven & I danced on Earth
At Bethlehem I had my birth:

Dance then, wherever you may be
I am the Lord of the Dance, said He!
And I'll lead you all, wherever you may be
And I'll lead you all in the Dance, said He!
(...lead you all in the Dance, said He!)

I danced for the scribe & the pharisee
But they would not dance & they wouldn't follow me
I danced for fishermen, for James & John
They came with me & the Dance went on:

I danced on the Sabbath & I cured the lame
The holy people said it was a shame!
They whipped & they stripped & they hung me high
And they left me there on a cross to die!

I danced on a Friday when the sky turned black
It's hard to dance with the devil on your back
They buried my body & they thought I'd gone
But I am the Dance & I still go on!

They cut me down and I leapt up high
I am the Life that'll never, never die!
I'll live in you if you'll live in Me -
I am the Lord of the Dance, said He!

Comments

Anonymous said…
I love this song! Havent's heard it in a long time. Oh, those Lutheran roots!! Thanks Laurie, your writing touches and inspires. Deb
January 21, 2009 at 1:57 PM
Anonymous said…
My, Laurie, you were a busy little blogger yesterday! I haven't seen these lyrics in a long time, but I used to love that song, too. It was written in 1963. I can't remember when I first heard it, probably some time in the 70s.

There's also a song by Kemper Crabb called "The Danse" that uses some of the same imagery. You can watch it on YouTube. It's one of my all-time favorite songs. Caedmon's Call covered it a few years ago. If you can't pick up all the lyrics, you might want to look them up. Let me know how you like it.
January 21, 2009 at 2:34 PM
Laurie M. said…
Thanks, Barry. I did look them up, and listened to the old version and Caedmon's Call's as well. A great song. I love the dance motif. Though my sin nature has ruined the pure joy of dance for me in this life, I'm hoping to do a lot of it in eternity - hopefully ballet:-)) And as for Lord of the Dance, you're timing's about right. It was 1976 when I went to 6th grade camp.

Deb,
My Lutheran roots have come to mean a lot to me since my conversion.
January 22, 2009 at 9:02 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

in which I discuss the unthinkable

-
Paul and I have just returned home from the funeral of a most precious little girl.  Lydia's smile could have lit a room. Now it reflects the glory of God the Savior for all eternity. Perhaps you've noticed the sparsity of my entries here these last two weeks. We've been struggling and praying for appropriate ways to handle what we're dealing with, and when and whether to speak about it. Up until now, for reasons which will become obvious, I've only shared this with a very few trusted friends. Paul made reference to it on his blog several days ago, but with no specifics.  I think it may be time for me to fill in the gaps. What we're dealing with is horrible and ugly - about as ugly as it gets. This all happens on the heels of my mother's death, and has now somehow managed to even overshadow that.  Mother's death, as difficult as it was...well...it made sense. She was 87 years old, and hadn't been well in many years. This, on the other hand, is a m...
Continue reading...

I forgave you a long time ago...

-
"I forgave you a long time ago..." I pray that I never forget those words as long as I live. They were a gift spoken by a friend I had hurt unintentionally many months before. It had taken me some time to recognize the offense I had caused, some more time to accept that she had a right to feel offended, even though, in my opinion I had done nothing wrong. It took more time still before love won out and I worked up the courage to face her. I dreaded her rejection. I feared this treasured relationship would be lost forever. But instead of the rejection I feared, she gave me this gift. She not only forgave me, she loved me, and continued on as though the whole episode was barely worth mention, nothing but a little bump on the road to the continued sweet fellowship and mutual encouragement we had always shared. There are many things I may before have considered to be marks of true godliness, but I none can hold a candle to this: "I forgave you a long time ago......
Continue reading...

"It is finished!" ...and I am free...

-
Image
What can I say? I've been set free. It's as simple as that. It's been a long time coming, but the simplest of truths has finally filled my thick skull with peace. For nearly as long as I've been a Christian I've grappled with the subject of legalism and the Old Covenant Law. I've read so much and heard so many sermons on the subject and all the while the waters have only grown murkier and my confusion greater. I've heard there are those who disregard the Old Testament entirely, seeing it as useless, something we ought not even bother ourselves with. But, to be honest, in all my years in various church settings (from Pentecostal to Reformed Baptist) I've never, ever met anyone who believes that way. No, what I've encountered are a variety of Christians from a variety of traditions all claiming to be "Bible-believing" struggling, generally with all sincerity, to figure out what to do with the Old Testament in light of t...
Continue reading...