Contra Dancing

I have had this idea strewing around in my head and my heart for about a week now and I wanted to share it with you guys.  It's the idea of contra dancing.

Let me begin by saying that I don't know the first thing about contra dancing.  So, naturally, what do I do when I don't know anything but want to know a lot?  Google it, of course.  So before I get into my idea, here's a general definition of the term:

"Contra dancing is social interaction, meeting people, and making new friends, set to music.
The rest is just details." (taken from http://www.sbcds.org/contradance).

After a little more research on the term I found that the only real way to understand contra dancing is to take part in it.  And apparently the main objective is just to have fun, rather than make the right steps or moves.  It's a place that welcomes beginners and fosters friendly encouragement, where people are more than happy to help you learn the basic steps.

Now I'm not quite sold on the whole 'looking like an idiot to music' thing, but I started to really think about the idea of contra dancing and I decided I wanted my life to look a whole lot like this dance.  Probably completely uncoordinated, but having a blast while doing it.  It looks like chaos from the outside, but completely inviting to a stranger.  It's all about the community.

And then I ran across a blog talking about how church should be like contra dancing, and it really struck me as true.  Church, I believe, is the Christian body of believers- not some building or just a Sunday ritual.  The body of Christ was intended to be a giant contra dance.  Here's my drift:

I want church, like the dance, to be populated by friendly, welcoming faces who are less worried about getting it right than they are about sincerely showing up and caring for one another.  People who are in joyful communion with each other in a place where each person has a specific purpose- either to teach, play music, or instruct, and all are an integral part of the entire body's success or failure.  I want to be in a community of believers who aren't afraid of looking like fools when they try something for the first time and where I feel welcomed and un-judged when I start to take part and may look like a fool to outsiders.

Here's my point: I want my life and my community to be a big dance.  Not some ballet with stringent rules and the constant strive for perfection, but contra- where I make the moves as I go- so long as I am intently listening to the one who instructs me: Christ.


Here are the words I borrowed from the previously mentioned blog by Pamela Dolan and I couldn't have stated my point any better:


"Because what I do know is this: when Jesus talks about the church as one flock with one shepherd, he is talking about community. He is telling us that church is not supposed to be a country club, where we only get together with like-minded people who share our values and our aesthetics.

Church is, or is striving to be, a community. It is a contra dance: it can look a little messy from the outside, maybe even be a little intimidating. But once you join in the dance, you’re in. Your part is necessary. People are depending on you. Whether you do things with great skill and grace, or whether you do them by clomping about and clapping eagerly and making a whole buncha noise, your gifts are welcome and irreplaceable.

People in a contra dance can create something of beauty and transcendence not because of their individual talents but because they have all chosen to listen to the same caller, the one who tells them what steps to do next. Our caller is the Good Shepherd, Jesus himself. He is the one whose voice leads us and guides us. He is the one who will not abandon us or lead us down the wrong path. He will guide us to green pastures and living waters. And I'm pretty sure he won't mind if we dance along the way."

So this week I might be that idiot dancing down the streets of Mexico, but rest assured it will be my own contra dance, and I'll be having a blast.