Dancing Away the Old Ways of Power

A Sermon by Andrew Colman on 2 Samuel 6

Our Old Testament reading for today is just perfect for the life of saint ben's. 

There are harps and lyres and cymbals, castinettes, trumpets. All this is happening as the Ark of God is brought into the City of David. There is a veritable symphony processing the Ark into Jerusalem.

And David is dancing with all of his might to the Glory of God.

And so it goes for many of the folks in this community this weekend of the year. 

For it is the weekend of the Winnipeg Folk Fest. Guitars, and basses and, cymbals, and trumpets, and accordions.

And many of us are there dancing or relaxing with all our might. I've heard from numerous people over the years that Folk Fest, being out in nature, surrounded by creation and music, is indeed a spiritual experience. One that they look forward to each year, one that feeds their soul.

        And for that, we give thanks. 

—

There is an important part that happens just after our reading tonight ends that I'd like to read for you,

    David returned to bless his household. But Michal, the daughter of Saul, came out to meet David and said, "How the king of Israel honoured himself today, uncovering himself today before the eyes of his servants' maids, as one of the vulgar fellows shamelessly uncovers himself!" And David said to Michal, "It was before the Lord, who chose me above your father, and above all his house, to appoint me as prince over Israel, the people of the Lord—and I will make merry before the Lord. I will make myself yet more contemptible than this, and I will be abased in your  eyes, but by the maids of whom you have spoken, by them I shall be held in honour." And Michal, the daughter of Saul, had no child to the day of her death.

It is a significant departure from the joyful symphony that had just been happening.

--

Now, notice how Michal was referred to as Saul's daughter even though she was indeed married to David. 

From this, the author seks to remind us that the legacy of Saul, the King who reigned in the old way of power, power-hungry, fear and violence, is still alive.

Michal would have seen her father as she grew up and learned from him the ways in which she thought a king ought to behave. 

Acting stately, dignified, powerful, in a way that would /command/[respect and blind obedience from their subjects.

Essentially, it was the opposite of what she had just seen from David as she watched from her window. 

The image of dancing with all one's might in just a loin cloth is certainly not stately—not then and not now. 

When we think of the things in our culture today that are considered stately and dignified, we think of Blacktie galas, where all the men are dressed in their Tuxedo uniforms and the women in their gowns, especially chosen to project power and yet playfulness, dignity and yet vulnerability. In short, they are very scripted events where no one is going to be dancing with all of their might, let alone be half-naked.

Michal, daughter of Saul, would have expected that the Ark be marched in not by dancing and harps but by an army and war horns.

And then comes David's rebuke, "It was before the Lord, who chose me above your father,”

           In other words, It was the Lord who chose Joy over Fear

“and above all his house, to appoint me as prince over Israel,”

Or rather, To appoint me Nagid/ the Hebrew word prince or ruler the title that elders of Israel gave him, not King - who can only be the Lord of God of Israel

“and I will make merry before the Lord.”

                I will not make violence before the Lord.

“I will make myself yet more contemptible than this;”

dare we say that he is anticipating the coming King from Nazareth, Jesus the least Worldly King of Kings who will die by the most contemptible death of crucifixion?

“But by the maids of whom you have spoken, by them I shall be held in honour.”

Who will bring maids - the people seen as lesser in the eyes of royalty to honour and glory and therefore give Glory and Honour themselves. 

This moment in David's life is at least a foreshadowing of the King of the Jews and the Kingdom that is to come where the way of the Powerful and Stately King is overturned.

David didn't just rebuke the words and ideas of Michal, Daughter of Saul. He rebukes everything that she stands for and stands up for everything she hates.

Instead of marching protected in the King's armour, he rejoiced, vulnerable in only a loin cloth.

Instead of measured words of propaganda, he danced to the Glory of the Lord. 

Instead of an army of death a band of harps and lyres.

As Ruler of Israel, who loved the Lord, he demonstrated what it meant to live a life following God - what it meant to live into the fullness of what God intended for us. 

                Instead of armour, vulnerability

                Instead of hate, love 

                Instead of fear and death,  life

David rebuked the old order - where the value of a person could  be measured by the number of invitations to black tie galas. Or by the number of zeros in their bank account. Or by their capacity to "contribute" to society.

David, who lived, as best he could, by the law, understood that God was a God for every single person, not just for the powerful but for those, maybe even especially for those with the least of the worldly powers.

That's why the "maids" in the conversation between David and Michal are so important. They are the servant women of the time, totally insignificant compared to the King and everyone else who attended those black-tie galas. The maids would eventually give David and Jesus honour because they themselves were lifted them into a place of honour.

You see, Saul acted stately, dignified, and powerful in a way that would /command/ respect and blind obedience from their subjects. But in the end, it was just an act.

David and, ultimately, Jesus lived with compassion. They didn't /act/ dignified. They lived with dignity, which inherently recognizes the dignity of others. They didn't act powerfully as a way to hide their fear; they, through their actions, empowered people to live in a way that gave honour to God. 

David, with his dancing, will have encouraged others to dance and worship in the same way—ever increasing the worship rather than stifling it with a military march.

Jesus taught, healed, and ate with the lowly to show them that they mattered and that they were loved. 

—

And in all of this, we find hope. 

    Hope because we are all broken in one way or another. 

    Hope because there will always be someone with a larger bank account, or more invitations to the galas, is smarter, in better health, more capable, more qualified, more, more, more, more of something than we are.

        But the way of Saul, the old way of power, was rebuked that day the Ark went into Jerusalem and it was crucified and utterly defeated on Good Friday.

So as we move into these slower summer months, off at festivals or tucked in somewhere safe, or as we experience slower times of life for whatever reason, may we always remember David dancing, not armoured but vulnerable, not scheming but loving. 

And not afraid, but girded up and given strength

    not because there were no problems and there will always be problems until the kingdom comes, but because like David knew that the presence of God was there right beside him in the Ark of God - we know God is always present with us, wherever we are, in every situation, since that glorious day of Pentecost in the Person and Power Holy Spirit. 

        Thanks be to God.