{"id":947,"date":"2017-06-24T10:14:02","date_gmt":"2017-06-24T10:14:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pattinghamchurch.org.uk\/web\/?page_id=947"},"modified":"2017-06-24T10:15:42","modified_gmt":"2017-06-24T10:15:42","slug":"sermon-11th-june-2017","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.pattinghamchurch.org.uk\/web\/information\/sermons\/sermon-11th-june-2017\/","title":{"rendered":"Sermon – 11th June 2017"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sermons index<\/a><\/p>\n

Sermon for Trinity Sunday \u2013 morning<\/h1>\n
\n

Sunday 11th June 2017<\/h3>\n


\nIsaiah 40. 12-17, 27-31
\nMatthew 28. 16-20
\n<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Revd Preb Maureen Hobbs<\/p>\n

\n

\"MaureenLet me begin by saying, that I have absolutely nothing more to add about the result of the General Election \u2013 except to say that today is all about Mystery \u2013 and that seems rather appropriate.<\/p>\n

(on the screen you will see a famous icon, by the artist Andre Rublev, that is a depiction of the Trinity… So if you would rather sit and contemplate that, please feel free to do so.
\n\"Angelsatmamre-trinity-rublev-1410\"<\/a>
\nThese three figures or angels are representative of Father, Son and Holy Spirit; The table they sit at contains dishes that are very reminiscent of the Last Supper, and you will notice that each one directs our gaze to one or more of the others \u2013 and that the fourth side of the table is open…. an open invitation for us to approach.)<\/p>\n

Today I am supposed to explain to you the mystery of the Trinity \u2013 Father, Son and Holy Spirit; Creator, Redeemer, Sustainer \u2013 One God in three Persons \u2013 a Mystery. But instead I thought we might think together about dancing.<\/p>\n

Yes, that\u2019s right \u2013 dancing. Moving the feet and body, more or less rhythmically, to the beat of music. Since the arrival of \u2018Strictly\u2019 on our screens, dancing has become much more popular again, and it has a language of its own that \u2013 much like fine art \u2013 speaks across national and cultural boundaries.<\/p>\n

To begin with, I don\u2019t suppose I am unique here this morning in that I suppose I owe my very existence to dancing. For my parents met at a dance hall. In their case it was a small community dance hall in East London at the height of the Blitz. For some of you it may have been at church dances, or Young Farmers\u2019 Balls, or maybe at a party. I know my mother spent that evening watching a rather flashy young man showing off some fancy footwork as he danced with a partner \u2013 who, it later turned out, was his sister. Mum was in dread lest he might come and ask her to dance; she was afraid she would never keep up! Little did she know that he had sent his sister to chat to her during the tea interval (what a quaint idea!) and find out what she was like. Then, two dances before the end of the evening, he made his move \u2013 cunningly ensuring that he could keep her attention until the last waltz and then ask if he might walk her home. And the rest \u2013 as they say \u2013 is history. Well maybe not grand history, but my family history at any rate.<\/p>\n

And, as my parents got to know each other better, Mum\u2019s dancing improved, and Dad learned to be a little patient until she caught up with his footwork. One thing led to another and about ten years after that first meeting, I was the result! So I could, in a way, say that I was danced into being.<\/p>\n

As I grew up it was only natural that they would want to pass on to me their love of ballroom dancing \u2013 so there followed what sticks in my memory as fairly joyless weekly ballroom dancing classes. I don\u2019t think I ever matched their grace and poise on the dance floor \u2013 but I could once upon a time manage a passable waltz, quickstep and cha-cha. I\u2019m afraid the intricacies of the foxtrot always stayed a mystery to me. Then came my teens and such dancing was the last thing I wanted to do! Talk about un-cool!<\/p>\n

That was the era of the Beatles and the Stones and a whole new way of moving to music. A way of dancing that could infuriate parents and teachers \u2013 and so was infinitely preferable in our eyes. We danced our rebellion; our protest. Usually in groups of girls while our so-called partners propped up the bar until enough dutch courage was acquired to make a sudden rush for the dancefloor and begin throwing themselves around in dangerous abandon like so many demented John Travoltas. And we had our special songs \u2013 music that even today I associate with parties at college; late nights, dark rooms, joss-sticks and Mud singing Tiger Feet or the Stones\u2019 Brown Sugar , and who was it sang \u201cHey-ho silver lightning?\u201d\u2026.\u2013 yes, I know I\u2019m showing my age. But the culture we were developing \u2013 claiming as our own, the way we wanted to move and express ourselves through dance, through music, through radical ideas were all our attempt to make a life, a future, that was better than that which we had inherited. The Peace movement; psychodelia; hippies; – strange and misguided as much of it may have been, was an attempt to redeem the world and the values of our parents that we were busy rejecting. Maybe today\u2019s young people have suddenly started doing something similar?<\/p>\n

Time passed \u2013 relationships came and went \u2013 and then I fell in love with someone who played in a folk dance band. So weekends involved trecking around the country as he played for barn dances and ceilidhs. It perhaps wasn\u2019t a conventional courtship, but then love makes one blind to many things! But it did mean that I re-learned many of the reels and square and circle dances first encountered at primary school. For I quickly decided that I would not spend the whole evening gazing adoringly at my beloved while he had his arms wrapped around \u2013 his double bass. If you can\u2019t beat them, join them \u2013 so I joined in the dances and for a while this sustained not just our relationship but a whole circle of friends too \u2013 a complete social life built around the English Folk Dance and Song Society.<\/p>\n

I learned new dances too \u2013 one I can think of called the Morpeth Rant \u2013 anyone know it? Well I can no longer demonstrate it \u2013 especially dressed like this! \u2013 but it is pretty energetic and one of those dances for groups of threes \u2013 usually one man, partnering two girls. It comes from the North\u2013East and involves step-dancing \u2013 related to Irish step-dancing \u2013 Not to be attempted unless you are fairly fit \u2013 but in those days I had knees that worked! It also progresses around a circle, three facing three and dancing around each other in a lively, breathless and joyful procession \u2013 continually crossing over, ducking and diving, linking hands and whirling around.<\/p>\n

The great thing about dancing \u2013 whether the formality of ballroom dancing, the reckless abandon of break-dancing or the robust, exhausting and occasionally downright dangerous exuberance of folk dancing is that it involves your whole being. Your whole body, certainly, and your sense of hearing \u2013 of balance and your mind has to keep focussed on the music \u2013 all of yourself in fact. And to watch someone dance is to be moved to join in… It is infectious; it is inviting; maybe new disciples would find it easier to approach faith, if we emphasised the dance-like quality of God? It is no wonder that there are people and places that seek to bring dance into their worship as something to dedicate to God \u2013 some way in which to praise and pray to the Father, Son and Holy Spirit \u2013 the one who Creates us, Redeems us and Sustains us through our lives.<\/p>\n

So there you are \u2013 a few meditations on dance \u2013 Oh, and it seems the mystery of the Trinity. Three in one and one in three, dancing in eternal relationship and calling us to join the circle.<\/p>\n

Dance then, wherever you may be. I am the Lord of the dance, said he. I\u2019ll live in you if you\u2019ll live in me. I am the Lord of the dance said he. <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sermons index Sermon for Trinity Sunday \u2013 morning Sunday 11th June 2017 Isaiah 40. 12-17, 27-31 Matthew 28. 16-20 Revd Preb Maureen Hobbs Let me begin by saying, that I have absolutely nothing more to add about the result of the General Election \u2013 except to say that today is all about Mystery \u2013 and … <\/p>\n

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