Dancing with the Father

Here is something I wrote a quarter of a century ago (says the old man!):

When we have known a person for a long time, we become able to judge whether or not what they say or do is "in character." As Christians, we are called to "put on the mind of Christ", to act more and more in a Christ-like manner, to have a Christ-like attitude. Jesus was completely in tune with God's will and could let himself be guided by the Spirit because his whole being was oriented to the Father from within. What determined for Jesus the appropriateness of an action, the truth of a word, the rightness of a decision was this relationship with the Father. He was completely open to go where the Father sent him, completely willing to be led by the Father into the dance of life. His love for the Father was the underlying rhythm of this dance. Jesus was so imbued with this rhythm that he could freely improvise the steps without missing a beat.

A few years ago, when I was involved with the RCIA process in my parish, one of the catechumen in our group kept on repeating that she wanted to know what she needed to do to be right with God. I got the impression that she was afraid that God would not accept her fully unless she did the right things. She was looking for some type of security in knowing what to do. In an attempt to help her put her focus elsewhere, I used dancing as an analogy. I suggested that when we first start dancing, we are rather clumsy and we are afraid to step on our partner's feet. We therefore have a tendency to watch our feet and to count out the steps in our head. It makes for a very stilted dance and, frankly, it's not a whole lot of fun. It's only when we feel secure enough through practice that we can let ourselves relax and forget our feet. The music then guides us along and our bodies know as if by instinct what to do next. In the same way, the "rules" set out by the church and in the Bible are like the steps of a dance. We need to learn these steps, but we have not really learned to "dance with the Father" until we can stop looking at our feet in fear of a misstep. The purpose of the dance is not to get the steps right, but to enjoy being with the Father as he leads us in the dance.