Easter Workshop 1980
DANCE (General Notes)
3 quotations taken from Anne Long’s Book “Praise Him in dance”
“The beauties of Nature lie, not only in color and sound, texture and perfume, but also in motion. To see long grass blowing in the wind, antelopes leaping, a seagull gliding, or a boiling sea, breaking on the rocks, is to know for sure, that God invented movement. That Great Lover is also the Great Dancer. It follows that man, created by God in His image, with a mind and a spirit capable of conscious worship, has potentially the greatest beauty of movement and expression in the created world.” Anne Hardcastle
“A Christian should use these arts to the glory of God, not just as tracts, mind you, but as things of beauty to the praise of God.” Francis Schaeffer
“It is not enough simply to adopt those secular forms and ideas which are part of our fallen culture and try to Christianize them, by changing the words or adding an evangelistic appeal.” Anne Long
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Testimony from Louis and Dana Montes de Oca
“The hand of the Lord is heavy on us now. He has saved us from the professional dance world, and transformed us to where we are now, the bearers of a prophetic message and ministry to the Body Glory be to Jesus! My wife Dana and I were devoted in the pursuit of fame and fortune, as professional Ballet dancers in New York, for ten years. As we became the idols of the masses who applauded us, we found the meaning and reality of life missing. When the glamour of our roles were off, we began to avidly search for the truth that would fill our emptiness. We quickly ran the gauntlet of today’s spiritual smorgasbord – mysticism, yoga, drugs, spiritualism, and witchcraft. Then, one awful but blessed night, we took an honest look at ourselves, and beheld a picture of hate and falsehood. Just after, we realized that the guilt of sin was ours, and that we could not save ourselves from it, a new warmth, which was the love of Jesus flooded our lives. Suddenly we knew that God had forgiven us, and that He had a loving plan for our lives. We were born again into His service. Not having yet met another believer, we did not know where to begin reading the Bible. So like the Jews, we began at Genesis, and went “Through the Desert!” When we reached Chronicles, we became discouraged with all the names, and asking God to forgive us, we flipped over to the New Testament. Weeping, we read the Gospel for the first time, and we knew that our God’s name was Jesus, who had loved us so much, that He died on the cross for our sins. Bless His Glory Name forever!
During our first year as children of God, the Lord literally took away our ability to dance, because we did not know how to glorify Him in it. He showed us the complete falsehood our world had been, and taught us to desire His ways above all else. In His timing, He gave back the joy of dancing, for a purpose.
He has now sent us out to prophecy in the dance, (1 Chron 25) and to lead the Body in the dance to worship and praise the Lord. (Exodus 15:20, 1 Chron. 13:8) Ours is the assignment to bring a message of great joy to the Bride. As we praise God with our voices, instruments, dance, holding the two edged sword in our hands, kings are bound with chains. (Psalm 149) And the joy that is released to us as we dance before our Lord is our strength!
It is our joy to see the House of David restored (Amos 9:11) and see the glory of the Lord filling His temple, to such an extent, that no one can stand to minister! The Lord is doing His wonderful work of adoring His Bride for taking up. Today, as we see the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, upon Jew and Gentile alike, there is reason to rejoice, to celebrate, play, and keep a festival before the beloved Lord. Zechariah 12:7 explains, that in the last days, the Lord will save, (open wide, free, rescue) the tents of Judah (praise) first in order, that the glory of the house of David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem may not be magnified above Judah. Thus our praises are being restored before the final establishment of God’s Kingdom in the New Jerusalem.
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“Before, whatever role we were playing, all our dancing was saying was, “Look at me” but when the Lord restored to us our ability to dance all our dancing was saying was “Look at Jesus!””
(Louis and Dana Monts de Oca)
Dance in performance – or before a congregation
“Can God trust you in front of an audience or a congregation, as His power is descending on them, through your dance, (which He gave or gives to you?) Will you graciously, and intelligently (not with fake humility) give Him the glory? – Don’t say a lot to give Him the glory, – it’s pride in humility often – In that split-second will you choose for God? It is power to have the audience or congregation with you. Can you be trusted with that power? In that second, you need the fear of God!
(Maria Hill – “Window” Mime Company)
Some relevant Scriptures (-Andy Raine)
John 12:32 – Basic principle of use of dance in evangelism
John 3:30 – Our dance must say “Look at them” not “Look at me.”
Psalm 90:16-17; Isaiah 61: 3, 10 – His beauty on us – Psalm 87:7
Exodus 15:20-21 and Psalm 30: 11-12 Praising God for victory
11 Sam 6: 14-23 – dance, primarily between us and God – 1 Chron 13:8
Luke 7: 31-32, Luke 15: 25-52 – Jesus mentions dancing
Joel 2: 28-29; Jeremiah 31:4, 12-13- The Virgin = The Bride
Psalm 150:4; Eccles. 3:4 – A time to dance
1 Chron. 25:1 and Acts 21: 10-11 Prophecy in music, dance, movement etc.
Who should prophecy? 1 Corinth. 14:5, 26. Numbers 11: 25-29, and Ps. 149:9
Dance in spiritual warfare. Ps. 149: 3-9
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A Levite’s prayer
Bless, O Lord, us thy servants who minister in Thy temple. Grant, that what we sing with our lips, and express in our dances, we may show fourth in our lives.
Through Jesus Christ, our Lord.
Amen.
“Surely this must be the prayer of our hearts, as we move into the whole area of dance, in the context of worship, that it may become our experience and ultimately, our life.” Linda Skinner
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