“Living and Moving within the Divine Dance” by
Beth DeCristofaro
Then (the commander) brought Paul down and
made him stand before them. Paul was aware that some
were Sadducees and some Pharisees, so he called out before the Sanhedrin, "My
brothers, I am a Pharisee, the son of Pharisees; I am on trial for hope in the
resurrection of the dead." When he said this, a dispute broke out between
the Pharisees and Sadducees, and the group became divided. (Acts 22:30, 23:6-7)
Lifting up his eyes to heaven, Jesus prayed
saying: "I pray not only for these but also for those who will believe in
me through their word, so that they may all be one, as you, Father, are in me
and I in you, that they also may be in us, that the world may believe that you
sent me. And I have given them the glory you gave me, so that
they may be one, as we are one, (John 17:20-22)
Piety
Study
Paul and the disciples were often dragged off
and confined in ways we will never experience.
But we, too experience unlooked-for obstacles and limits – illness, fears,
biases, rigid expectations, addictions, natural disasters, overinflated egos …
the list is long as the human condition is fraught. Jesus comes to set us free on so many levels
if we can see beyond our own shackles.
Paul’s vision of Christ is much bigger and deeper than the Pharisee’s
and Sadducees’ understanding of God.
They lose focus on what is important as they debate their own human-made
details. They cannot envision the
promise of life with God which Paul preaches.
Paul understood what Jesus told his disciples – they (we) are one with
the Divine by God’s invitation and Christ’s mediation.
Richard Rohr encourages us to consider the
mystery of the Trinity not as an intimidating concept beyond us but rather as an
invitation to endless new understandings of what is not knowable. He quotes Carl McColman: “God is in us because we are in Christ. As members of
the mystical body, Christians actually partake in the divine nature of the Trinity. We do not merely watch the dance; we dance
the dance. We join hands with Christ and
the Spirit flows through us and between us and our feet move always in the
loving embrace of the Father. In that we
are members of the mystical body of Christ, we see the joyful love of the
Father through the eyes of the Son and with every breath, we breathe the Holy
Spirit.”[i]
The leaders of the temple and too often
myself did not accept the invitation to become “A partner in the divine dance …
who agrees to stand in the mutual relationship that God is – the
relationship that Gods has already and gratuitously drawn us into.” (R. Rohr)
Action
How might I best embody, day to day, my
dynamic dance with the God who Is and who brought me into a relationship
before my human awareness began? Am I
short-changing myself because I get myself caught in the details of rules,
expectations, systems, self-centered perspectives, the “should” and the “should
not?” Give away all that is yours and
follow Him into the Dance.
[i]Trinity: Week 2 The Body of Christ, Richard Rohr,
March 9, 2017 https://cac.org/the-body-of-christ-2017-03-09/
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