TUESDAY, MARCH 15

“A time to mourn and a time to dance.” (Ecclesiastes 3:4)

In 1963, Sydney Carter, English poet, songwriter, and folk musician, set words to American Shaker music titled Simple Gifts and produced the well loved song, I Danced in the Morning. Carter had served in the Friends Ambulance Unit in WWII in Egypt, Palestine, and Greece as he lived out his pacifist beliefs. His celebratory words added joy and wonder to the notes. He is quoted as saying, “This is what Jesus should be about, joy and wonder.”

I danced in the morning when the world was begun,

And I danced in the moon and the stars and the sun,

And I came down from heaven and I danced on the earth;

At Bethlehem I had my birth.

Dance, then, wherever you may be;

I am the Lord of the Dance said He,

And I’ll lead you all, wherever you may be,

And I’ll lead you all in the dance, said He.

I danced for the scribe and the Pharisee,

But they would not dance and they would not follow me;

I danced for the fishermen, for James and John

They came with me and the dance went on.

I danced on the Sabbath and I cured the lame;

But the holy people said it was a shame.

They whipped and they stripped and they hung me high,

And left me there on the cross to die.

I danced on a Friday when the sky turned black;

It is hard to dance with the devil on your back.

They buried My body and they thought I’d gone:

But I am the dance and I still go on.

They cut Me down and I leap up high;

I am the life that will never die;

I’ll live in you if you live in Me:

I am the Lord of the Dance, said He.

In this enduring anthem of our time, Carter says, “I see Christ as the incarnation of the piper who is calling us.”

Prayer: Our heavenly Father, may we hear you as you call us to do your work here on earth and may we joyfully respond. Amen.

Diane K. Bert