"Joining The Dance" June 3, 2007 The Holy Trinity

The dance has been going on since long before you and I were born. It is the divine dance, even since before the foundation of the world, “the interweaving of the Three, the Father, Spirit, Son.”*

The first thing, then, is to be aware of the dance that is going on! And so, for instance, when you and I are alert, we hear God the Father-Creator in the rain that begins before the sun is up, and in the singing of the birds who are delighted to be wet! We see God the Father-Creator in the stunning appearances of the cardinal and blue bird and blue jay. We know the presence of God the Holy Spirit when we are listening in prayer, and when insight and resolution occurs in that prayer. We see the face of the Trinity in Jesus – whose face we see in each other, and especially, in the faces of those who are poor and in need.

“The universe of space and time did not arise by chance, but as the Three, in love and hope, made room within their dance.” First we become aware and alert to the dance of God, Father, Spirit, Son. And God makes room for us! God invites us to join the dance!

What creativity there is in the dance! What new life! We see the dance of God – as children mature; as high school youth enter into college and discover their first vocations to which God is calling them; as college students and graduate students earn great academic accomplishments; as a working person serves the needs of her community; as a person retires and discerns God’s call for his retirement; as a grieving person follows the Spirit’s guidance through that suffering and discovers the new life that has been awaiting her – it is all a matter of joining the dance of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The dancing has been ongoing from before the beginning of creation. It will continue long after you and I live our spans on earth. But now, at this time, in “the interweaving of the Three, the Father, Spirit, Son,” God makes room for you and me! What joy!

Of course, sadly, we can fall away from the dance. That happens when we are closed off to that joy that God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit invites us into. That happens whenever we are mired in anger or regret; or whenever we’re overcome by depression or despair; or whenever we are deadened because we are trudging along purely from a sense of duty and responsibility.

This doesn’t happen only to individuals. Congregations can fall away from the dance. That happens whenever a “survival” or institutional maintenance mindset takes over.

Communities can fall away from the dance. That happens when “insiders” close themselves off from “outsiders.”
Nations can fall away from the dance. That happens whenever a nation inflicts war and injustice upon others.

But even when individuals and collective bodies fall away from the dance, God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit does not turn away! “The inter-weaving of the Three, the Father, Spirit, Son”; God keeps dancing! Over and over again, as many times as necessary, God makes room for us! God invites us to join the dance, to live and to move in the joy of God’s grace-filled presence and movement!

*This sermon is based on Richard Leach’s text, “Come, Join the Dance of Trinity,” (Evangelical Lutheran Worship, Hymn 412):

Come, join the dance of Trinity, before all worlds begun –
the inter-weaving of the Three, the Father, Spirit, Son.
The universe of space and time did not arise by chance,
but as the Three, in love and hope, made room within their dance.

Come, see the face of Trinity, new-born in Bethlehem;
then bloodied by a crown of thorns outside Jerusalem.
The dance of Trinity is meant for human flesh and bone;
when fear confines the dance in death, God rolls away the stone.

Come, speak aloud of Trinity, as wind and tongues of flame
set people free at Pentecost to tell the Savior’s name.
We know the yoke of sin and death, our necks have worn it smooth;
go tell the world of weight and woe that we are free to move!

Within the dance of Trinity, before all worlds begun,
we sing the praises of the Three, the Father, Spirit, Son.
Let voices rise and interweave, by love and hope set free,
to shape in song this joy, this life: the dance of Trinity.

Thanks be to God, who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit! Amen.


Pastor Andy Ballentine
St. Stephen Lutheran Church
Williamsburg, Virginia