June 8 Dancing Shoes
On Tuesday morning I was driving into church for Vacation Bible school
and when I was still over block away.. Just coming past the Sawmill; I could see a couple of little kids getting dropped off.
The parent waited to make sure they got all the way into the building;
and I couldn’t tell who they were ..I was too far way ;
but it just made my day
because these two children literally danced ...
sort of bouncing and swinging their arms...maybe the were singing...
all the way from the car to the church building
and I thought wow
now that the way to come to church..did any of you want into like that this morning?
those kids were already getting into the swing of it all
the joy of it ...
Then I realized that we Methodists ..well we know how to be happy
but we just don’t have much a dancing tradition.Iin fact
Protestants in the united states ...
don’t really have any form of religious danceW we are short in the dancing departmentand that’s unusual
because most religions know how to dance...
They have some kind of dancing ;ceremonial dances..
Or ritual dances,

I know we have some liturgical dance
but we don’t’ get the whole congregation in on it..
...
BUT maybe that s what those two kids were feeling ..the need to dance and move a little..
And of course when Sunday school kids and vacation Bible school kids
are singing
they get to move a little
they get some actions and hand motions
with some of the songs..
But still
most of the time
worship for us
means sit down and don’t move too much..
Now when some f us were at the synagogue a few weeks ago
we got to see a lot more ceremonial movement
when they bring the torah scroll
that precious copy of the books of Moses...
A coupe of times during the service
the scroll get carried out into the congregation
down the aisle on one side of the synagogue
so people can step out and touch the scroll
or even kiss the scrolls as a sign of respect and thankfulness and blessing
And then later it gets carried down the other side
but once a year
there is even a bigger kind of dance with t he scroll
. When the yearly cycle of scripture reading is down.
.. There is a special service of dancing with the scrolls
of course it has a special Hebrew name
but I don’t know how to pronounce it
its is something like simot Torah
and its a day of rejoicing
they carry the torah scrolls 7 times around the sanctuary
And they sing and dance between every round .
You see the people are so glad
that they got to live through another year of having the scrolls read to them/
well in the Hasidic Jewish tradition
this dancing got to be very important..
And there is a tale
a story that goes back to the days of two famous rabbis who
lived in the 1700s ..in eastern Europe
in fac they lived about the same time as John Wesley did
the story was about the famous rabbi
the Baal shem tov
and rabbi Dov Baer
And the story also has a popular tradition
that even after the gates of paradise
were closed after Adam and Eve
you could still make mystical visits to paradise
and a common .theme in those stories of paradise
would be about the leaves from the garden of Eden
they had wonderful and blessed fragrance in those leaves

well here’s the story:
one year
when the people were celebrating with singing and dancing..
Everybody noticed

the Ba'al Shem Tov did not join in the dancing,
he stood off by himself.
He seemed to be strangely somber
on that joyful day.
Then
all of a sudden Rabbi Dov Baer’s shoe went flying off his foot
as he whirled in the dance,
and then
that same instant
the Ba'al Shem Tov smiled.
A little later the Hasidim saw the Ba'al Shem Tov pull a handful of leaves out of his pocket,
he crushed the leaves
and scattered their powder in the air,
it filled the room with a wonderful scent,
like that of Paradise.
Then
the Ba'al Shem Tov joined in the dancing

The Hasidim had never seen him so happy,
and they, too, felt possessed by a greater joy than ever before.
Afterward,
when they had all caught their breath,
from dancing so hard.
one of the Hasidim asked the Ba'al Shem Tov
what he had smiled about,
after having been so solemn.
He replied:
"While you were dancing,
I went into a trance, and my soul leaped from here
into the Garden of Eden.
I went there to bring back some leaves from the Garden,
so that I could scatter them among us,
making this the happiest Simhat Torah of all time.
I gathered fallen leaves with the greatest pleasure and put them in my pocket.
As I did,
I noticed that there were scattered fringes of prayer shawls
in the Garden,
as well as pieces of worn tefillin,
from the straps Jews wrap around their arm when they pray.
Not only that,
but I saw parts of shoes
heels and soles and shoelaces,

and sometimes even whole shoes.
And all of these objects were glowing
like so many sparks, even the shoes
— for as soon as they entered the Garden of Eden,
they began to glow.
Now this was very strange
that shoes would be glowing!
"Now I was not surprised to see the fringes and straps,
for they come from sacred objects,
of course these objects
used in prayer..would be special
but I wondered
what the shoes were doing there. Whats so holy about a shoe
"Just then
a shoe flew into the Garden of Eden,
and I recognized it at once
it belonged to Rabbi Dov Baer."
The Ba'al Shem Tov turned to face him.
"Dov,
I realized that your love of God was so great
that your shoe had flown all the way there.
That is when I understood why there were shoes in the Garden of Eden.
And that is why I smiled.
"I would have come back to join you at that very moment,
but just then I saw two angels in the Garden.
They had come to sweep and clean the Garden

and to gather those precious, glowing objects.
"I asked the angels what they were going to do with the shoes,
and one of them said: 'These shoes have flown here from the feet of Jews dancing with the Torah.
They are very precious to God,
and soon the angel Gabriel will make a crown out of them
for God to wear on His Throne of Glory.'"
The Ba'al Shem Tov stopped speaking,
and everyone who heard this story that day was filled with awe.
And Rabbi Dov Baer's shoe was never ever seen again,
for it had truly flown to the Garden of Eden.
Ok
it’s a strange little story... isnt it.,
,quant. and cute
but it has its truth

dancing shoes are a delight to God
they too become sacred objects..
Because they are expressions of love
So here’s what I hope;
that maybe your foot will feel a little rhythm
maybe a little bounce
a little toe tapping ..in church...and
the music
will find a way to become your way of celebrating Gods word
and aw ay of showing your love for God
As the music Points us to God
to faith
to hope and to love
as we praise God
as we make a joyful noise..
As we make music with the handbells..
and the vacation Bible school singers
and the Girls choir
and the hymns and the piano and the organ...
I do believe Something of the words and the rhythm
the singing and the leaping in our heart
really does find its way
to paradise
where it is gathered up
as a holy treasure of God..
As signs of love
amen