Receiving and Giving TheGod’s Joy Gifts of the “Great Dance” BY ALEXIA SALVATIERRA

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tell you all this that my joy may be yours, and your joy the joy of dance. The injustice and anguish in my commu- may be complete” (Jn. 15:11, Inclusive ).1 nity faded into the background when I smelled the rosin says this to his disciples after assuring them that they and my feet hit the hardwood floor. will be loved if they follow his commandments. How That is my earliest memory of joy, but joy isn’t just for comforting this must have been for the disciples as they children. As an adult, I still love to dance! struggled with the revelation that Jesus would be leaving them. And how comforting, beautiful and exciting it is Happiness, Pleasure and Joy us for us, who also bask in Jesus’ love. The command- Before we examine how we can achieve joy (or at least ments aren’t just rules set out to be followed; they are a embrace moments of it), let’s talk about what joy is. Happi- path to joy. ness and joy are often used interchangeably, but happiness Who doesn’t long for the fullness of joy? We all experi- and joy are distinct from one other. Author and Presbyte- ence moments in our lives when we taste joy. Are there rian pastor Frederick Buechner says, “Happiness turns up thingsI we can do to bring more joy into our lives? While more or less where you’d expect it to—a good marriage, a we’re talking about it, what is joy exactly? rewarding job, a pleasant vacation. Joy, on the other hand, is as notoriously unpredictable as the one who bequeaths it.”2 Experiencing Joy Happiness, then, seems to be something we can work I was raised in a working-class area of Los Angeles in a toward, achieve. Aware of what we want, we invest effort, context of ongoing chaos, conflict and danger. When I was care, time and/or money for a particular outcome—to take four years old, my grandmother took me to see a ballet. I the vacation, earn the promotion. But there are always fac- was transported by the beauty and relentlessly asked my tors beyond our control—rain on a beach vacation, a mother when I could begin ballet classes—an unlikely fan- beloved colleague who accepts a new job. Happiness, like tasy in our world. However, my mother was so committed pleasure, can be fleeting. to delighting the hearts of her children that she found a job Joy, too, is fleeting, but it’s not something we can work driving a van for a small ballet school so that I could take toward. We experience joy or are surprised by it. Gala- daily classes. tians 5:22 tells us joy is one of the fruits of the spirit, sug- I remember arriving at the door every day and being gesting that, like patience, kindness and generosity, it is filled with joy. Just the anticipation of the music beginning an attitude we can cultivate. and the dance lifting me up brought joy. Even the hard, Pleasure and pain are opposites, just like work and play. sometimes painful work of learning ballet was infused with But joy can co-exist with any of those. In fact, Frederick

May/June 2019 7 Buechner also says that “vocation is my favorite metaphors for thinking equality).4 In Christ, the process of where the world’s deep hunger and about our relationship with and redemption and restoration begins. our own deep gladness meet.”3 I think with one another. Jesus called for an end to the hierar- that “deep gladness” is another name In The Very Good Gospel, Lisa chies that impede the flow of the for joy. Sharon Harper explores these rela- dance. “In Christ there is no Jew or tionships through a close reading of Greek, slave or citizen, male or Joy Amidst Sadness Genesis. She notes that the first two female. All are one in Christ Jesus” The potential for joy is a gift, not chapters of Genesis paint a picture of (Gal. 3:28). In Christ, we are invited under our control. However, God is a shared dominion. God has dominion and empowered to fully join in the generous giver and we might live into over all of creation. God exercises that great dance of creative love and to that gift far more often if we could dominion as creative authority, work for the flourishing of all. remove the blocks human beings actively encouraging and enabling all We are one body; if any part suf- place in the way. Sometimes we block life to flourish. The man and the fers, we all suffer. If any part rejoices, ourselves; sometimes others throw up woman are created in the image of we all rejoice. If we are disconnected the barriers for us. Like other gifts God, so are also endowed with cre- from the dance—whether because we from God, we can cultivate joy by ativity and caregiving. are excluded or because we separate being willing to see it and eager to God retains ultimate dominion, ourselves—we all suffer, and our joy embrace it, even in the place of sad- but at the same time, generously is diminished. ness or suffering. shares dominion with human returning to John 15:11, Jesus It seems that children often find or beings—power flowing back and tells the disciples that if they keep his embrace joy more easily than adults. forth as humans joyfully surrender commandments, they will abide in his Through an immersion experience their power to God and receive it back love. To make things extra clear, Jesus organized by Matthew 25, I visited again. Human beings likewise share then says, “This is my commandment: the refugee camps in Tijuana, Mexico, dominion with one another; there is love one another as I have loved you” in December 2018 with families who no difference in their roles or respon- (15:12). Knowing this is our call as fled terrible violence in Central Amer- sibilities. This is all a dance as joyous Christians, how do people in our ica. Most had walked thousands of as any experience of dancing that I churches and communities end up miles before arriving at the border. knew as a child. excluded from the dance? They had little hope of being able to Then the serpent convinces the enter the and receive man and woman that they should be Giving and Receiving Gifts asylum. At that time, Mexico did not suspicious of God. They no longer For many years, I managed ministries seem like a reasonable option either. trust God to give power freely. with people who were homeless. One The parents’ faces showed weari- Instead, they believe that they must Christmas, one of our regulars came ness, stress and despair. While the grab power for themselves. The end into our Christmas Eve celebration children’s eyes also showed fear, when result is loss—loss of the fluid weeping so hard that she was gasping. we created artwork together, they exchange of dominion with God and When we asked her what had upset entered easily into joy—laughing or then each other. The man becomes her so deeply, she shared with us that rapt in the experience of painting. the woman’s “baal” (false God). Cre- she had spent the day trying to avoid a If we are honest with ourselves, ating new life and sustaining life cold rain by sitting under the awning most of us have left behind this child- become hard and painful. The great outside a department store. She said like ability to find or embrace joy. So dance goes on, but human beings now that she had watched people all day how can we get to the joyous life Jesus participate in ways that are often pro- coming out with Christmas gifts for intended for us? foundly out of harmony with God their friends and families. She had felt and with each other. a little sad thinking about no one giv- The Great Dance ing her a gift, but that a more over- While the barriers to joy are many Parts of a Whole whelming sorrow came when she and various, one common thread is The early church called Jesus Christ realized that no one wanted anything disconnection from the “great dance.” the Lord of the dance and, in their that she had to offer. The “great dance” is (not surprisingly, worship, they incorporated circle To participate in the great dance is given my early love of ballet) one of dances (a symbolic expression of to be part of the circle of giving and

8 receiving. Each of us is a child of God, burden of their shame falls off as they respectable people, but outcasts.”5 bestowed with gifts that can help the all move together. Jesse said, “Get this! Jesus came to world and others in it. Yet, for a vari- us—to us in particular—and not just ety of reasons—socioeconomic status, Each Loved and Called to help us but to call us! To choose us race, gender, gender identity, sexual In the latter part of my years in home- to be his agents!” To join the dance orientation—most of us will, at one less ministries, we began a homeless fully is to be recognized as particularly time, find ourselves excluded from the peer chaplaincy training program, called by God to serve, not just to be circle of authentic giving and receiving. designed to heal the psychological and allowed to bring your “inferior” gifts Called to love one another, we spiritual damage caused by oppressive to the common table. must look for ways to love each other systems. We always began with an as individuals and dismantle the sys- opening retreat at a formal retreat Entertaining Angels tems that suggest there are people center where the staff and other Tomas was a teenager in rural who have nothing to offer. guests did not know that our partici- Guatemala during part of the coun- Greg Boyle, a Catholic priest who pants were homeless. try’s civil war (1960–1996). Soldiers founded an intervention and rehabili- Jesse, a Mexican-American man picked up Tomas and a number of tation program for gang members from East Los Angeles who had been other boys on their way home from called Home Boys, talks about dis- a Navy Seal in Vietnam before a working in the tobacco fields and abling shame. The majority of his drug addiction that he picked up in forced them to enter the army. Army “homies” heard very young that they the war derailed his life, attended leaders realized Tomas was a natural were worthless. That message was one of our retreats. He picked up a leader and forced him and a few other reinforced many times, in a dark cycle vernacular translation of the Bible boys into special services (dubbed “S- of violation and punishment. The and was flipping through it when he 2,” but also informally known as the weight of their shame cuts them off suddenly shouted, “Guys, you have death squads). None of the boys from any serious attempt at joining to come see this!” wanted to join S-2. Two ran away the great dance of love and work. He was pointing to Mark 2:15–17, that night and were subsequently At Home Boys, when they are in which Jesus is challenged for eating caught and tortured in front of the given jobs, taught trades and wel- with tax gatherers and prostitutes. other boys, with the threat that the comed into a family where the com- Jesus’ response to the challenge is usu- same treatment would happen to mon rule is grace, many discover new ally translated as “I have come not to their families if they tried to run away. life and joy for themselves and their call the righteous but sinners.” How- Tomas ended up serving in S-2 for families. They learn to dance in a cir- ever, in this translation, his words several years before he was able to cle of willing partners. The disabling read “I have not come to call escape and to hide his widowed

May/June 2019 9 Joy Journal In the article, Alexia Salvatierra writes, “Joy, too, is fleeting, but it’s not something we can work towards. We experience joy or are surprised by it. Galatians 5:22 tells us joy is one of the fruits of the spirit, suggesting that like patience, kindness and generosity, it is an attitude we can cultivate.” 1. When was a time you were truly surprised by joy? 2. Do you think that joy can be cultivated and if so, what would that look like for you? In the article, Alexia Salvatierra writes: “We are one body; if any part suffers, we all suffer. If any part rejoices, we all rejoice. If we are disconnected from the dance— whether because we are excluded or because we separate ourselves—we all suffer and our joy is diminished.” 3. Think of someone in your PW group or circle. What gifts does she bring to the community? Would you be willing to tell her? 4. Loneliness and isolation—being disconnected from the dance—are not what God intends. In what ways do you or your PW group extend welcome and community?

mother and siblings in a barrio out- messenger of God sent to bring a utilize the full range of our gifts. We side Guatemala City, the country’s blessing. The automatic assumption can also fall into a related trap of run- capital. When he heard that soldiers that strangers are threats instead of ning a rat race of attempts to prove were searching for him, he fled to the blessings can lead us to automatic our worth through our work without United States, hoping for freedom exclusion of their gifts. What if we discerning our actual calling—the and safety. When he arrived in the greeted strangers with the hospitality part that we are called to play in the United States, he bent down and that welcomes them into the dance? great dance. kissed the ground, pledging that if he Joy is God’s gift to us all. To fully could obtain asylum status that he Using Our Gifts receive that gift, we must not dimin- would serve and contribute to this As women, we know well how easy it ish or block it by limiting ourselves country in every way he could in grati- is to end up defined in ways that limit or others’ participation in the great tude for saving his life. our contribution. Maria, a Salvadoran and joyous dance with God and with At the time, only five percent of immigrant, was participating in a each other that is our birthright and Guatemalan refugees were granted “Body of Christ” exercise in which purpose. asylum because of the U.S. alliance each participant named the body part with the Guatemalan government. that they represented. Maria said Alexia Salvatierra is coauthor of Faith- Rooted Organizing: Mobilizing the Church President reagan claimed that the “arm” and then burst out crying. She in Service to the World (Downers Grove, refugees were Communists. Tomas said that in her home country, she IL: InterVarsity, 2013). came from a Pentecostal family and had been an artist but that in this had never been involved in politics. country, as a housekeeper, she was Notes Yet, Tomas was seen by our govern- 1. Priests for Equality, The Inclusive Bible (Lanham, only seen as an arm. MD: rowman and Littlefield, 2007). Unless other- ment (and by many Americans) as a The group helped her to see that wise indicated, this version is used throughout this threat and as an invader. Tomas was her “arm” could paint beautiful pic- article. ultimately able to attain legal status tures for God’s mission as well as 2. Frederick Buechner, Wishful Thinking: A Seeker’s ABC (New York: HarperOne, 1973), 57–58. but the majority of those in his situa- clean houses. Even if we are not work- 3. Ibid, 95. tion were deported. ing as housekeepers, there are likely 4. Paul Dilley, Biblical Archeology Review, “Jesus Hebrews 13:2 calls us to provide times when each of us feels like as Lord of the Dance,” October 2, 2018; hospitality to strangers because, by so merely an arm—as if the tasks we www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/biblical- topics/post-biblical-period/jesus-as-lord-of-the- doing, we may entertain angels in dis- perform for our loved ones or dance/. guise. An angel in Koine Greek is not employers are the only things people 5. American Bible Society, Good News Translation just a celestial being, but, rather, any notice of us. It feels limiting to not (New York: American Bible Society, 1992).

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