ApprehendingGrace.com

OK, so I’m stealing the title from my pastor’s sermon yesterday. But he stole it from Scripture, so I think that’s OK!

I’m not a big fan of the Message Bible. It’s usually a little too hokey for me. But read this passage:

Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.??Matthew 11:28-30 (emphasis mine)

Tonight on “Dancing with the Stars,” several couples will dance the Viennese Waltz. It’s a beautiful dance with graceful swirls amidst the rise and fall of the dance. It appears effortless. It flows with the rhythm of the music.

“Learn the unforced rhythms of grace” Jesus tells us. Here’s the Sandy Hovatter amplified version: “Learn to dance with me to the music I’m playing as the backdrop for your life. The music will have it’s own tune, unique to your life, created especially for you with crescendos and decrescendos, measures to be lived quite softely and others to be lived with great gusto. I’m writing it uniquely for you, note by note, to lead you into and through the purposes I have for your life.”

Wow!

Lessons from Ballroom Dancing
Phil and I have taken ballroom dance lessons periodically over the past ten years. We love it, but we’re really not very good at it. In all these years, we’ve barely progressed beyond beginner. But even a beginner learns a few things:

1) Only one person can lead! When two people lead you are constantly fighting one another and you’re likely to end up on the floor as you lead each other in opposite directions.

2) If the wrong person leads, the dance doesn’t flow properly. It just looks (and feels) wrong.

3) Find someone who knows more than you do and follow them.

4) Finding and following the flow and rhythm of the music covers a multitude of wrong steps.

5) Quit stressing about getting it perfect — you’ll get better each time, so enjoy the process and laugh at your mistakes. (Every teacher we’ve had has told us that we have to do every step a thousand times to really learn it — and they all suggest practicing the steps as we walk down the street! People who love to dance don’t seem to care if others laugh at them.)

I doubt that you need me to make the spiritual applications here, but how can I resist?

• When following Jesus, only one person can lead — the Lord! When I take the lead, falling is never far behind. At the very least, the flow of my dance (i.e., my life) disintegrates rapidly.

• I’ve always found that being around people who love God more than I do greatly enhances my love for God. I try to find these people and hang around with them.

• Walking in grace covers a multitude of mis-steps. Keeping my connection with the Lord strong allows me to flow in His rhythm, so even when I miss His lead, I don’t get far before sensing that He’s changed directions.

• A question I try to ask often is “In the light of eternity, how important is it?” Almost all the time, the answer is “not very.” So let it go. Don’t get angry because your husband is doing that thing that annoys you…again. Don’t be discouraged because you’re not the person you want to be yet. Keep practicing. You’ll get the steps down. Don’t give up. Laugh at your mistakes (not at your sin, at your mistakes, there’s a difference) and try it again.

I’m ready to treat life as a wonderful dance between my Savior and me. Who knows, it might end up looking a whole lot like a Viennese waltz.

An afterthought: When Phil and I are dancing, I am most likely to “steal” the lead when I become bored — when we’re not doing anything interesting. If I were to examine my life, I bet I’d find the same to be true of the times I’ve “stolen” the lead from Christ. As if I know what’s best for me, right? Wrong!

I wasn’t feeling well over the weekend and they were having a “So You Think You Can Dance” marathon on television. So I watched (and watched and watched).

I was struck by something one of the dancers said. One of the judges asked what kind of formal training she had. Her response was “I love dancing so much I’ve dabbled in all styles. There’s probably not a style that I haven’t had some training in.”

Wow! That’s how I want to be as a worshipper! I want to love the Lord so much that there’s not a “style” of worshipping Him that I haven’t dabbled in.

Caveat: Yes, I know that worship is more than music. I’m focusing on worship through music here, although the concept can be applied to all areas of worshipping God, whether through prayer, Bible study, service, etc.

I believe that a true worshipper ought to be able to worship God to any kind of (worship) music.
Sure, there will be a few styles which are easiest for you to worship God through, but if you can only worship God through a specific style, it seems to me that you’re limiting your worship experience — and that means you’re limiting how God might speak to you. God is an infinitely-faceted guy, so I believe He can speak to me through hymns, contemporary worship, yes, even worship music with a country sound (horror of horrors, my style is much more rock-n-roll). And I also think that it’s quite possible that what He has to say to me (or perhaps it’s what I might hear) will be slightly different when I’m worshipping to hymns, rock-n-roll worship music, and reggae worship.

I want to be able to say “I love worshipping God so much that I’ve dabbled in all styles of worship music for the glory of God and to know Him better.”

Will you join me in this endeavor?

OK, this will be my last blog about that community prayer meeting last week…and I won’t always be blogging about dancing, I promise, but it was a special night of worship.

During worship/intercession last Monday night, a young mother began to dance. It wasn’t ballet-type dancing, but a more “freestyle” dancing. Soon her two young sons came into the sanctuary. I watched as they went over to their mom and began to dance with her. Shortly after that her teenage daughter joined the family dance. When the mom looked up and saw her daughter’s friend sitting nearby she invited her to join the dance. This is a “normal” family with the normal ups and downs, trials, tribulations and successes that all families have. As I watched them, my only thought was “what lasting memories those children have.” As their father led the worship team, they danced with joy in the Lord with their mom. Now THAT’s family values and family “entertainment” at its best.

Praise God for parents who dance with their children.

Comment by Shanna
aweee..shucks! Thank you. I Love to dance with my kids. They really get into it. God’s really blessed me (with nearly perfect kids). I love to watch them in the presence of the King.

A few days ago I blogged about God invading our churches. It was about a prayer made during a community wide worship and prayer meeting. Here’s something else that came out of that meeting.

WARNING: If dancing is against your theology, you might want to suspend that prohibition for the next few minutes.

During worship at a recent community prayer meeting, the beat transitioned from gentle praise to the anticipation of a battle. As it grew stronger and stronger, my feet began to move in time, as if marching in formation as the Lord called out His army. But as I marched in place and the beat grew ever stronger, my feet began to “itch” to do something fancier. My thought was “Lord, this is a call to war beat, not a dancing beat. Our prayer focus now is calling men of the church to arise and take their place.” I felt God answer, “Dance, daughter, dance.”
Still I resisted because it wasn’t a time of dance, it was a time of marching (according to my brain). Yet my feet and spirit continued to say “dance.”

So I began to dance…a little. And as I began to move my feet in dance instead of in marching, God reminded me that dancing before Him is as much a part of warfare as marching to battle is. In fact, I believe there are times when dancing is stronger warfare. Our strength, our greatest weapon, is the elevation of Jesus. Our marching demonstrates to the enemy that we are on the move against Him. Our dancing shows the enemy that the Lord is our delight. It is that delight that is our greatest weapon against the things the enemy will throw at us to ruin our witness and our lives…he will put before us lies that will discourage us, de-motivate us, distress us, and deter us from pursuing our One True Purpose – to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever.

So I’ll march to war, but when I get to the battlefield, I hope to be dancing. Because the dance says “Satan, let me introduce you to my Savior, Christ. He is my delight and He is my life’s dance partner. Anything you have to say to me, you can say to Him. He’ll handle it.”

Let’s dance!

Comment from Shanna
What a night! I couldn’t stop, I was so overtaken by the Spirit in dance I thought I was going to explode. Watching the Lord overcome the children into dance was beautiful. The flow from dance to falling on my face before the King-What an awesome God that wants to just dance with you. I always enjoy watching you worship (not tahat I stare) but you have really helped me to step out in my own dance. Sandy you are an amazing woman of God, I look up to you more than you could ever imagine… Keep on dancin’!
Monday June 11, 2007 - 03:07pm (EDT)

Response from Sandyhov
Yep, what a night. Read the next blog — it’s about you!
Tuesday June 12, 2007 - 10:43pm (EDT)

Comment from Shanna
hey its tayler- hi nice blog, and thank u for your comments about us!
Tuesday June 12, 2007 - 11:36pm (EDT)

Comment from dansdesk
I’m jealous — as a Baptist and as someone in the grieving process!
Wednesday June 13, 2007 - 03:40pm (EDT)

Response from Sandyhov..
Hey Dan — you could always bust a move some Wednesday night!
Wednesday June 13, 2007 - 09:06pm (EDT)

Comment from dansdesk
Amanda and I were at a “non-church” wedding a couple of weekends ago and she was planning on showing me a few moves but we had to get home for the Cavs game and to finish up my SS lesson.
Thursday June 14, 2007 - 11:32am (EDT)

Response from Sandyhov

Thursday June 14, 2007 - 08:15pm (EDT)