Dancing Gophers
2 Samuel 6:1-5, 12-19

July 13, 2003

Beware of the innocent congregational survey - the kind you all fill out when you are searching for a new minister. The Needs Assessment form of the United Church can bite back. Today is the day.

About six years ago, this company of saints was asked all manner of things about how it liked to do church. You weren’t wasting your time: ministers do like to read those responses carefully. Some of us have so much experience reading these that we can sniff out the character of one church over the other over one seemingly casual or flippant remark.

The question had to do with what styles of worship were you comfortable and appreciative. Naturally, there was a long, varied list of comments, likes and dislikes. The Joint Needs Assessment Committee and the Search Committee compiled all these comments and included them in the material sent to candidates. There was one comment I could not ignore. And if it was yours, I would not admit it.

“No balloons, dancing, and gophers.” Molly and I dispensed with punctuation and grammar and talked for days about the wonder of “dancing gophers.”

My last congregation had a similar eye catcher in their needs assessment. In several places it mentioned the work that the Elephant Eaters do. What is an Elephant Eater? There was a simple answer - this was the mission outreach group of the church, a very active one, not unlike our Outreach Ministry here. How do you eat an elephant? How do you solve the problems of a conflicted and suffering world? One piece at a time.

But dancing gophers - was it the name of some new fangled experimental worship group? No, some of you had to be there when it happened. Gainer the Gopher came to church one Sunday. I don’t believe he offered the pastoral prayer, but he stood around and added something to the service. Did he dance? Depends upon your definition of dancing.

We are afraid of dancing in church, you know, just like Michal, David’s wife, who didn’t think dancing half-naked was dignified for a king. And of course, the alluring dancing of Herodias that cost John the Baptist his head is not the best of models either for dancing in the church.

Still, David dancing before the Lord has always had a semi-approval attached to it. Just don’t ask us to do it is the other half of that approval.

The occasion for David’s rhythmic steps was not a minor ritual: it was the establishment of Jerusalem as the capital and religious centre of Israel. We take that for granted, but half the Old Testament does not, and this is the moment when things change.

David was king of Israel finally, but he had been headquartered by necessity in Hebron. Now he had to make a critical choice. He could gradually mold himself into the image of the king-god so common in the ancient Near East; or he could establish the Lord God as the real King, around whom all decisions would be made. David chose the latter, a radical way of being a nation, in which Israel attempted to operate according to the politics of God rather than, as we see all too frequently today, God being put to the service of the world’s politics.

In order to accomplish this radical transformation of a nation, a symbol was needed. Not just a picture or a song, or even a shared idea, but something that physically and powerfully involved all of these. There was one, neglected and almost forgotten, stored away in an obscure village: the Ark of the Covenant.

The Philistines had briefly and disastrously captured the Ark. They were the first raiders of the lost Ark, but the strange power emitting out of the Ark knocked down the idol of their chief god Dagon and afflicted all sorts of people with tumors. The Philistines sent it back on an unmanned ox cart (am I allowed to say that today?). The Israelites stashed it away at the house upon the hill of Abinidab in Kiriath-jearim.

The Ark is not only the container of the original tablets of the Ten Commandments, but the throne of God, the very place where God sits. When the Ark accompanies an army into battle, it never loses. No one can touch it because the divine power with which it was charged kills anyone who touches it.

David wanted to bring this Ark into Jerusalem to establish the reign of God in the city, not just the all-too human political reign of David. To have God literally, powerfully, sitting in its midst was more than a statement. It was the reality of God invading and dominating human history and social life. But David found out quickly that there was a problem.

Why you would leave something so incredibly important as the Ark in such an obscure place for so long is beyond us and the Bible makes no comment either - though if you remember the movie, it’s someplace safe!

David and all his company put the Ark on a new fangled ox cart with two sons of Abinidab driving the cart. When they came to a bump in the road, the Ark was jostled and Uzzah quickly reached to steady it. That was the last thing he did, because God zapped him dead right there.

David was upset and bewildered, concluding that this Ark was too much for him to handle. He placed the Ark in the care of Obed-edom the Gittite, a Philistine, for three months and because of the presence of the Ark in his house, everything went wonderfully for Obed-edom. David was informed of this and figured the Ark was now behaving itself, so he went back and fetched it, very carefully this time.

Both times, before Uzzah was zapped and after, David and all his company preceded the Ark in one gigantic worship processional. All kinds of musical instruments, especially trumpets, gave tune to the songs, maybe even a few of David’s psalms, and David was dancing before the Lord with all his might.

Do we worship much differently? Our choir processes down the aisles singing at the top of their voices, the organ is blowing us away, sometimes with trumpet blaring, flute whistling, and piano percussioning. I’ve seen the choir of Trinity United Church of Christ in south Chicago, the largest congregation in our sister denomination - 100 strong - processing in with a coordinated juke and jive. They’re worshiping with all their might.

No, David wasn’t wearing much, but then some of those dancers in the Royal Winnipeg Ballet leave little to the imagination and we call that high art. Besides, those who have read through the Books of Samuel know that David was inclined to ecstatic experiences. The Spirit of God would fill him with visions and images and move his body where he did not intend to go. Don’t look at me, I’m neither that inspired nor inspiring.

They got the Ark safely to Jerusalem this time and placed it in a special tent, and the worship continued with offerings and a huge meal for the whole multitude of Israel. Call it what you will - a kind of communion service, a Wesleyan love feast. Eating is worship.

The downsides of this narrative both have to do with not really worshiping. Uzzah was all concerned about the mechanics of worship, of how to manage it. He got this new ox cart to transport the Ark so much more easily. The old way was to have priests carry the heavy box by means of long poles looped through rings on the side of the Ark. Uzzah assumed God was safely in the box and that it was his job to make sure God was kept safe from the unkempt world. He tried to take care of God, maybe even control God, keep God from falling. Uzzah wasn’t worshiping; he was managing a religious business.

One of the greatest dilemmas of ministers and priests is that when leading worship, it is very difficult to actually be worshiping ourselves. One is so wrapped up into the details and order of service that it is hard to let go and listen for the still small voice.

Michal, the daughter of Saul and the wife of David, was observing worship with a critical eye to appearances. And she did not approve. Neither did Michal worship. She was so incensed by David’s behaviour that she lost sight of God in all of it. God can’t be dropped, nor can human beings spoil the presence of God in worship if you are listening for God.

There is nothing more important that we do as Christians than worship. Worship has proven to be a radical political act - all the Civil Rights marches and demonstrations were preceded by worship services. There is nothing we do more dangerous, more inventive, more risky, more humble, than to worship with all our might.

When Elizabeth, pregnant with John, met her cousin Mary, now pregnant with Jesus, John leapt in her womb. Lots of early Christians have said that John aleaping was just like Jesus dancing before the Lord. Let’s keep worshiping, and who knows if we will have to dance?

Preached by Robert Kitchen
Knox-Metropolitan United Church
Regina, Saskatchewan