Why We Dance
As a church, 5 Stones desire to be a place that is passionate about expressing our hearts to God through biblical expressions of worship. Dance is a wonderful way to worship God for who He is and all that
He does.
What the Bible Says
Does the bible have anything to say about dance? Absolutely!
Let them praise His name in the dance. Psalm 149:3a
Praise him with tambourine and dancing. Psalm 150:4a
Dance is beautiful and acceptable response in worship according to God’s will and word. Through out scripture and history, men and women have expressed their love, joy, sorrow and thanksgiving to the Lord through dance. Miriam danced in joyous thanksgiving after God divided the Red Sea allowing the nation of Israel to escape the oppression of Egypt (Exodus 15:20). Mighty King David danced before the Lord as the Ark of the Covenant processed down the streets of Jerusalem (2 Samuel 6:14).
It is interesting to note that nowhere in scripture does God forbid dancing. Churches that forbid dancing do so on a historical or denominational basis, not a Biblical basis. The scripture does indicate, however, that there is a proper time to dance:
[There is a] time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance.
Ecclesiastes 3:4
Even Christ says there’s a proper time to celebrate and to mourn:
We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge
and you did not mourn. Matthew 11:17
Dance as Communication
The arts have long been used as a way to communicate to others. An artist spends many hours painting an image that speaks to its viewers. Sometimes we “hear” what the artist is saying and other times we “hear” another message that the artist may not have originally intended, but it speaks nonetheless.
Dance is much the same in that it paints an image through movement that speaks to its viewer –
whether that “viewer” is a congregation or God himself. You see, dance communicates in two ways:
1. It speaks the heart of the worshiper to the God he or she serves.
As the dancer worships through movement, they are able to express their heart of adoration and praise to the Father.
2. It speaks the heart of God to His people.
The arts have the power of bypassing the mind and going directly to the heart. God uses His dancers to speak His heart, so that His people are able to see and hear the truth of His desperate love towards them.
“There are times when my words fail me, where my words fall short of the worship I long to express to my God. When I dance, it moves beyond my words to my spirit. As I dance, my spirit begins to pray through movements, and the movements become the ‘groans that words cannot express,’ as Paul states in Romans 8:26. For me, when I run out of words, my movements become my prayer, and I know the Father sees and hears.”
- Jody Thomae, 5 Stones Creative Arts Director
Dance is Worship
We have a tendency to limit our worship to the singing we do on a Sunday morning. However, there are many ways to worship the Lord, and dance is just one of them. Just as some people may worship the Lord through solitude, silence, music, nature, art, writing, so the person called to dance will worship through movement.
There have been many people who have tried to banish the arts and dance from church. However, God calls his people to worship in spirit and truth. Preventing people from dancing in church is preventing them from worshiping God the way He has designed them as individuals to worship Him, in spirit
and truth.
It is vitally important to understand that the dance is not a performance. In fact, as this quote from the book Restoring the Dance by Ann Stevenson demonstrates, it is an act of humility and abandon on the part of the worshiper:
“Dancing before the Lord is a humbling experience; one totally abandons himself to the act of expressing his love and joy to the Lord. It is intimate and personal, and it is not expressed for the sake of the observer.”
Dance in the Bible
There are over 50 Hebrew (Old Testament) and Greek (New Testament) words in the Bible that relate to dance and/or movement. The words we translate as “praise” or “rejoice” are words that indicate movement and the involvement of the whole person, which includes the body. This is because the Hebraic understanding of the person does not divide into distinct parts of mind, body and spirit. These distinctions came later as a result of the platonic thinking of the ancient Greeks.
These are just four examples of these words:
The LORD your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing. Zephaniah 3:17
Hebrew word: Gywl (pronounced: gool or geel): to spin around under influence of emotion.
As we see in this scripture, the Lord actually dances over us with singing!!
I will praise you, O LORD, among the nations; I will sing of you among the peoples.
Psalm 108:3
Hebrew word: Yadah: to praise the Lord with extended hand and graceful gestures.
Sacrifice thank offerings to God, fulfill your vows to the Most High. Psalm 50:14
Hebrew word: Todah: extending your hand; however, there’s a plurality in its meaning. It signifies many extended hands praising and worshiping God through movements.
Every day I will praise you and extol your name for ever and ever. Great is the LORD and most worthy of praise; his greatness no one can fathom. One generation will commend your works to another; they will tell of your mighty acts. Psalm 145:2-4
Hebrew word: Halal: (the root word for Hallelujah) to shine, to boast, to celebrate, to spin around, to act clamorously foolish before God. It implies action and visual praise.
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By Jody Thomae, Creative Arts Director, 5 Stones Community Church, Ashland, OH (2006)
For more information, contact Jody Thomae [jody@5stones.org].
