The story we read on Sunday, of David transporting the ark of God to Jerusalem (2 Samuel 6), sounds – at times – like a game of hot potato!
Having captured the ark of God (1 Samuel 4), the Philistines are soon convinced (1 Samuel 5 and 6) to return the ark to Israel, to the people of Beth-shemesh, but they in turn are quick to hand the ark on – this time to the people of Kiriath-jearim. Then David takes the ark, but when tragedy occurs and Uzzah is struck down for touching it, he passes the ark to Obed-edom the Gittite, a Philistine who had remained living in the land.
Does it seem ironic to you, as it does to me, that the ark has taken this circular journey and is now back in Philistine care? It tells me that God does not recognise the boundaries between people that we establish. David is told (in 2 Samuel 6:12), “The Lord has blessed the household of Obed-edom and all that belongs to him, because of the ark of God.”
What did Obed-edom do that is different? We aren’t given any detail, but my guess is that revering (and worshipping) the God of Israel and living at peace with those around him played a part in God’s blessing this household.
I just had a coffee with a member of our church today who mentioned his journey towards faith had involved reading Mark 12: 30-31, “’You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ [and] ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself.’” “Those two commands,” he said, “just seemed to make sense to me; to be at the heart of what it is to be human.”
Our worship no longer centres around a physical box, but God is with us always – encouraging us, urging us on, helping us, to fulfil those two commands; to love God and to love our neighbours. Thank you, God!
Knowing that God is with us always might even encourage us to break into a bit of a dance – as David does!
Speaking of David’s dance, I came across some wonderful versions of the song we did on Sunday, and a very different rendition, featuring some incredible tap-dancing!
The tap-dancing version is David danced before the Lord with all his might and comes from Duke Ellington’s Sacred Concert (1965, 1968 and 1973), a series of performances commissioned by Grace Cathedral in San Francisco. According to the album’s Allmusic review, “the concert taps into Ellington’s roots in showbiz and African-American culture as well as his evidently deep religious faith.” The original tap dancer, Bunny Briggs, who was inducted into the American Tap Dancing Hall of Fame in 2006, considered becoming a Catholic priest in his youth, but his priest told him that, “God clearly wanted him to be a dancer!” Here’s a video from Duke Ellington’s Sacred Concert https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WVZ9WnUyf9k and a 2016 performance by Grace Chorale in Brooklyn, featuring tap-dancer Dario Natarelli – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ekuh_4gi99E. (I love the comment in the comments section, “Breathless! Heaven going to be so much fun!”)
A version that’s a lot closer (and only a little cooler! 😊) than what we sang on Sunday is here – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pv-uarxVTNM
And this version cracked us up at 8am prayers last Friday – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYrNXZtWw4Y (We often try to find something fun for Friday prayers!)
Heaven is going to be so much fun! And full of so many different and wonderful expressions of praise – and of love!
Grace and peace,
Belinda