Several years back I had the privilege of teaching worship dance to some little girls at our Church’s Worship Arts Camp. Every week the girls were excited as I gave each one a simple long white satin skirt to wear for practice. Paired with whatever tee-shirt they had worn that day, once the girls donned their skirts, it was a sight to see! Not one of them could sit or stand still. The entire room was filled with happy, twirling dancers.
Nothing could compare, however, to the times when they got to wear (imagine angelic music here) ~The Big White Performance Dresses~. They were always so excited to wear these very special dresses, and you could see by their faces and behavior that they felt beautiful when they had them on. It didn’t matter if their ponytails were cockeyed, or if there was left over peanut butter and jelly on their cheek. As far as they were concerned, they were true, beautiful, ballerinas.
With that in mind, and before teaching any of the choreography, I first set aside part of class to talk about worship and how we can use dance toward that end. Because worship dance involves beauty, I talked about God being the author of beauty. It was my goal to encourage them to be beautiful… for Jesus. Beautiful not just on the outside but more importantly on the inside; the part that thinks and speaks and acts.
If you could be in the room with these little “saints”, you would see why it’s important to emphasize inner beauty. Those long, flowing white dance skirts and dresses can be very, very distracting. It is easy to get caught up in the “twirliness” of it all. Especially in a room filled with mirrors! And yet it was amazing to see their reactions when I began to talk about being beautiful for Jesus. Somehow, it settled and focused them. I could tell they were thinking.
For eight Sundays we practiced choreography to Fernando Ortega’s, The Creation Song, and I had the girls use beautiful flowing fabric pieces to represent different parts of creation. A glittering iridescent fabric was used to represent light. Silky red fabric was used to represent the sun, and a shiny golden piece for the moon. Brown satin was used for the mountains, and green chiffon for the valleys. A light blue sheer organza represented the wind. To illustrate water, a shimmery blue fabric with pale white streaks and delicate silvery jewels was used. Two of the girls swirled teal and purple peacock feathers to represent “the birds of the air”. But most important was when the song spoke of God’s glory. During that portion, one of the girls was to run gracefully across the floor from one side of the stage to the other, and back again. As she ran, she would be holding a beautiful long piece of billowing purple taffeta high above her head. It was going to be glorious!
Something differently beautiful and glorious happened on the last week though, that I won’t ever forget.
The last week of Arts Camp was when we were to show the other Worship Arts classes, parents, and friends, what we have been learning over the eight week period. The girls were very excited, and so was I! They had accomplished so much, and I was proud of them. As the girls gathered on the stage, I began passing out the “big white performance dresses” and sent them, along with my fearless helpers, to the dressing room to change. After they left the room I began to ready up a few things and that’s when I noticed a little girl sitting off to the side of the stage. The girl was a neighbor to one of the families who attend our church, so she had come with the children of the family. I observed her for a moment as she sat on the edge of the stage, and with her feet hanging over and her Her arms crossed tightly in front of her, I could see that she had been crying.
My very first thought when I saw the situation was…Oh boy, I don’t have time for this. I remembered how she had behaved all evening. She was uncooperative and angry; she complained about everything; and she wouldn’t let anyone touch her. I felt certain her home life was less than desirable. On top of that, her appearance was what we call at our house, “scrumbly”. Honestly, I was annoyed with the problem of “the little girl”. But something happened as I began to walk across the stage toward her. I sensed the Holy Spirit urging me to care about her. To love her.
Not feeling happy with the Holy Spirit’s timing, I let out a long, slow breath, but then made my choice. I walked over and crouched next to the unhappy visitor and, since all the girls were out of the room, asked if she was feeling lonely. She immediately scooted away from me and gruffly said through angry tears, “I just want to be in the dance.” Instantly I thought – she can’t. We’ve practiced for seven weeks, and she doesn’t know any of the choreography. Then I remembered…
…The dancer who was to run across the stage with the purple cloth representing God’s glory, was out of town, and I needed to choose another girl. I knew this scrumbly, stringy haired little girl could take her place and run with the purple fabric.
The Holy Spirit spoke. “Ask her.”
But Lord, it’s the most important part!
“Ask her.”
So I told the little scrumbly visitor that I had an extra white dance dress, and asked if she would like to be in the dance. She frowned, but nodded her head yes. I gently touched her arm to direct her toward the dresses and she bristled under my touch and moved away again. Now stepping back, I coaxed her to come with me and she willingly, yet somehow also defiantly, followed me across the stage. At that point the rest of the dancers were making their way back in, so one of my helpers took the tear-smudged little girl to change, as the rest of us started dress rehearsal.
Shortly, the scrumbly, angry little dancer came back to join us, all dressed in white. I explained to her what she was to do.
“Sit on the floor here, and when I tell you to run, stand up, hold the purple cloth way up high above your head, and run like the wind from this side to that side, and then come back.”
During my instruction, she didn’t make eye contact with me even once. I had no confidence that she would even follow through.
Next, I asked her if she would like me to put her hair in a bun like the other dancers. I thought she would certainly say yes, but she didn’t. She crossly said, “No. I don’t like that. I think it hurts.” I asked her if she would like to take off her tennis shoes and have bare feet like the other girls. “No,” she snapped. “I don’t want to.”
I will be honest – that little “dancer” did not look beautiful to me at that moment.
But God has a way of helping us to see through His eyes.
As the music started I saw beautiful little girls doing just as they were taught. All the lovely fabrics were flowing across the stage, as they danced beautifully for Jesus; each one to the best of her ability. Then came the chorus. The music swelled as the main theme of the song began filling the auditorium…
“…Singing, Glo-ry! Glo-ry! Glo-ry to our God!
All praises and honor!
Forever!
Amen!”
And there, with all she could muster, an angry, scrumbly little girl with stringy hair jogged awkwardly across the stage, dirty tennis shoes clomping, purple cloth flapping limply behind, not high above her head, but from the back of her neck like a not-so-super, superhero.
A scrumbly little girl ~ clothed in a beautiful white dress.
And I imagined the Trinity dancing with joy at the sight of every single one of the beautiful dancers; especially the beautiful, scrumbly, purple cloaked, superhero dancer.
And as I choked back my tears I thought about the redeemed of God, and how that all of us are like the little scrumbly dancer.
Scrumbly, all ~ Clothed in white.
And in his great and wonderful love, He dances over us with singing.
Glory to God in the Highest.
Zephaniah 3:17
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.