When you think “Lord of the Dance,” perhaps the first image that comes to mind is this (or something of the like):
This is what a Google search will spit out, at least.
But before it was the title of an internationally acclaimed Irish musical and dance production, “Lord of the Dance” was an English folk song written by Sydney Carter, adapted from the nineteenth-century American Shaker tune “Simple Gifts” by Joseph Brackett. Carter wrote the song in 1963 and had it published in 1967. Ronan Haridman adapted Carter’s song for Michael Flatley’s Lord of the Dance in 1996; the melody is used as a recurring theme throughout the show.
YouTube hosts several different video recordings of Carter’s song, but my three favorite are embedded below.
“The Kingdom of God is within you.”
O world invisible, we view thee,
O world intangible, we touch thee,
O world unknowable, we know thee,
Inapprehensible, we clutch thee!Does the fish soar to find the ocean,
The eagle plunge to find the air—
That we ask of the stars in motion
If they have rumor of thee there?Not where the wheeling systems darken,
And our benumbed conceiving soars!—
The drift of pinions, would we hearken,
Beats at our own clay-shuttered doors.The angels keep their ancient places—
Turn but a stone and start a wing!
’Tis ye, ’tis your estrangèd faces,
That miss the many-splendored thing.But (when so sad thou canst not sadder)
Cry—and upon thy so sore loss
Shall shine the traffic of Jacob’s ladder
Pitched betwixt Heaven and Charing Cross.Yea, in the night, my Soul, my daughter,
Cry—clinging to Heaven by the hems;
And lo, Christ walking on the water,
Not of Genesareth, but Thames!
When Francis Thompson wrote this poem in the 1880s, he was a homeless opium addict. He slept every night on the streets of London—on the bank of the River Thames, or at Charing Cross junction. And yet despite all his suffering, he was still able to see and rejoice in the beauty of God. Continue reading
I’m not sure I understand the comparison here. Jesus is like football . . . in what ways?
Found at zazzle.com.
My latest read is Imaginary Jesus by Matt Mikalatos.
Here’s the book description from Amazon:
Imaginary Jesus is an hilarious, fast-paced, not-quite-fictional story that’s unlike anything you’ve ever read before. When Matt Mikalatos realizes that his longtime buddy in the robe and sandals isn’t the real Jesus at all, but an imaginary one, he embarks on a mission to find the real thing. On his wild ride through time, space, and Portland, Oregon, he encounters hundreds of other Imaginary Jesuses determined to stand in his way (like Legalistic Jesus, Perpetually Angry Jesus, and Magic 8 Ball Jesus). But Matt won’t stop until he finds the real Jesus—and finally gets an answer to the question that’s haunted him for years. Be warned: Imaginary Jesus may bring you face-to-face with an imposter in your own life.
And the book trailer:
I came across the book’s website when I was searching for something or other a few weeks ago. I was intrigued by the concept: a host of Jesus imposters, in the flesh, trying to win the loyalty of one Matt Mikalatos. This concept, however, is very oddly executed in the book. Continue reading
(To find out more about Charles Sheldon’s novel In His Steps, the inspiration behind the WWJD craze, read Part 1.)
Some people object to even asking the question “What Would Jesus Do?”, for various interrelated reasons. Charles Sheldon didn’t ignore these objections. In fact, he gave voice to a lot of them through his characters, all of whom express reservations, not just at the start, but throughout the novel, as they struggle to ask and answer this question in a consistent and honest way.
Here are five common objections to the question “What Would Jesus Do?”:
1. It’s impossible to answer definitively and without bias.
We don’t know what Jesus would do, and it’s as simple as that; any answer would just be our best guess, based, most likely, on our own preferences and beliefs, which color our interpretation of the Scriptures and of the character of Jesus. It’s presumptuous and arrogant, and it’s bad theology, to assume that your decided course of action is exactly the course that Jesus would take under your given circumstances.
In chapter 2 of In His Steps, singer Rachel Winslow admits to Pastor Maxwell, “I am a little in doubt as to the source of our knowledge concerning what Jesus would do. Who is to decide for me just what He would do in my case? It is a different age. There are many perplexing questions in our civilization that are not mentioned in the teachings of Jesus. How am I going to tell what He would do?” Pastor Maxwell responds by quoting John 16:13-15: “But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come.” In other words, the only way to arrive at an accurate answer is to listen to the promptings of the Holy Spirit, our “Counselor” and guide. Continue reading
This Virtuous Planet T-shirt brings together 1 John 4:4 and the Gatorade slogan.
From its beginnings in 1988, “WWJD” evolved from a simple motto teens used to cope with peer pressure, to a secular fashion fad, to a Christian market craze with endless spin-offs, to a much more loaded question that adults now use to try to influence public policy.
(For an introduction to this series, read Part 1: Origin of the Phrase.)
(NOTE: This post was updated on February 5 to reflect new information gathered from a phone interview with Ken Freestone on January 28, after his comment below. The original post incorrectly identified Janie Tinklenberg as the creator of the first WWJD bracelets. Tinklenberg, who took credit for the idea in interviews with The Independent, Scripps Howard, Christianity Today International, and other publications, did not respond to my interview request after one week. Dan Seaborn was unavailable for comment.)
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When I was in fourth grade (’97/’98), WWJD bracelets were all the rage. All the cool kids were wearing them, Christian or not. For most people, they were more fashion statement than moral guide. I had two—one navy blue, and one rainbow-colored—and I guess for me, they were a little bit of both.
These bracelets first appeared in 1988, on the wrists of teenagers from Central Wesleyan Church in Holland, Michigan. Dan Seaborn, who was the youth pastor at Central at the time, had been using the phrase “What would Jesus do?” as a sort of slogan for his youth group, inspired by Charles Sheldon’s novel In His Steps. He wanted to have this slogan printed onto something that he could give the teens in his charge, something small that they would see regularly and be reminded of the commitment they had made to follow Jesus.
So he approached Mike Freestone of Packard Advertising Specialties to help him develop the idea. Mike’s brother, Ken Freestone, founder and owner of the company, also got involved. Together, the three men came up with the idea of reducing the slogan to a four-letter acronym and printing it on woven bracelets. The bracelets were manufactured by Woven-Line in Wisconsin, with a minimum order of 100. Continue reading
The Jesus Question 