Mourning into Dancing
There is a song sung in our second service occasionally that I learned while attending an evening worship service at the Vineyard Church in Anaheim, California as a high school youth. The song “Mourning into Dancing,” a favorite of mine, became one of my regulars in my list of favorite worship songs that moved me and made me want to give God thanks for getting me through the roughest periods in my life. Psalm 30 meant as a dedication to the house of David actually a Psalm about a person going to God with thankfulness for their recovery from an illness. The Psalmist describes the feeling of being in a pit of despair and then being healed by the Lord. When the Lord moves and heals then the Psalmist responds with a dance, “You did it: you changed wild lament into whirling dance; You ripped off my black mourning band and decked me with wildflowers. I’m about to burst with song; I can’t keep quiet about you. God, my God, I can’t thank you enough.” (The Message) What a year thus far. How do we dance in the midst of tragedy? How do we dance while God is at work? And is he at work? I believe he is and I also believe he doesn’t desire his children to suffer. How do I answer these questions with those in the church who are asking why? My only answer as a naive young pastor is that we are and have been rescued by the grace of God and that we have a reason to dance. I am confident that one day we will dance.