Dancing Disadvantage

I grew up not going to dances. In fact, my high school was adamantly opposed to dancing-- we had a Senior Banquet, not a prom. When I got to college, it became obvious to me that I had missed the boat on learning how to dance. And the fact that I didn't dance growing up isn't the only issue; I'm also white. And yes, I have white girl rhythm-- which is to say, hardly any rhythm at all.

I've been to a lot of weddings since graduating from college, and by necessity have learned to hold my own on the dance floor (please note: there is a huge difference between "holding one's own" and "excelling"; I am only claiming survival skills, not excellence). But it does not come naturally to me, and I often wish that I'd been able to go through the awkward learning-to-dance phase when my peers went through it, rather than ten years later.

This same feeling washed over me at church today, as I watched those around me dance as they sang worship songs. It wasn't distracting or irreverent or inappropriate; they were dancing in praise to God, like we are told to do in Psalm 149-- "Let them praise his name with dancing..."

Is this what heaven will be like? Will we dance in praise to God? I can't imagine that we won't.

Ah, but then this question came to mind: Will I know the steps? or will I have missed out on all the "rehearsals" because I thought dancing didn't belong in church?

I'm not sure how dancing went from being commanded in the Bible to being frowned upon. I'm not sure why we read the Bible and think that God couldn't really have meant what he says there. Maybe I'm missing something because I don't have a seminary degree and don't understand the original Hebrew and Greek. Or maybe it's just not as complicated as we want it to be.

This church-hopping thing is making me re-examine many of my convictions about worship. I do know this: I don't want to show up in heaven and find that I don't know the steps to the dances I was supposed to learn while I was here on earth.