It Happened at Dance Camp

1 Chronicles 13:8
Roger Lynn
August 5, 2018
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Susan and I spent this past week on the shores of Flathead Lake at Wilderness Dance Camp. We joined with about 85 other people to share together in singing and dancing and praying and playing together. And when I say dancing I mean that we join hands in a circle, with the musicians in the center, moving our bodies using movements that evoke the meaning of the sacred words we are singing. We were women and men, young and old, single and partnered, gay and straight, from near and far. We sang in English and Spanish, Hebrew and Greek, Arabic and Aramaic, Mayan and Sanskrit. The words we sang were Christian and Jewish and Islamic. They were Buddhist and Hindu. They were Mayan and Native American. And in all of that rich variety and diversity, what we experienced was a unity of Spirit as we came together in sacred space and opened ourselves to the One Sacred Presence which goes by many names and is beyond the capacity of any name to fully capture. 

But all of that rich, textured, multi-faceted experience did not just happen. We did not just go to sleep one night and wake up the next day dancing together under a beautiful tent. It required intentional attention from a great many people. It began 50 years ago when a man named Samuel Lewis allowed himself to become a channel through which the Dances of Universal Peace could be born. In truth it began hundreds and thousands of years ago as the spiritual traditions of the world were shaped and formed. And, with regards to the week we just shared together on Flathead Lake, it began many months ago when a small group of people began dreaming and planning the details for the week. All of that planning came together last Saturday when the leadership team and the tent crew arrived on site to take the first concrete steps towards creating the sacred space we would share. I was privileged to join the tent crew this year. Over the course of two days, in a field at the edge of the camp, we erected a beautiful 30 foot open air tent and decorated it with rainbow colored fabric and prayer flags and lights. The stage was set. The container had been created. But the fullness of sacred space was not yet complete. More was required. All of the efforts of all of the people who had planned and prepared and worked for this moment would have been for naught without each and every person who began arriving on Sunday afternoon. The musicians came with their guitars and drums and violins and flutes and saxophones. The dancers came with their open hearts and willing spirits, ready to join the circle. You have heard it said that it takes a village to raise a child. The same is true for sacred space. It took all of us together to create the experience we shared this past week. The song we sang yesterday morning gives expression to what took place there in that field, under that tent, over the course of seven days. “How beautiful this moment, to share holy presence with you. I open my heart to this moment, and let the light of our love shine through.”

And because all of that intentional attention came together in the ways it did, a sacred space opened up for us and made room for some truly remarkable experiences. One morning in the circle we sang a prayer to the Divine Healer, and we sang it in Hebrew, Arabic, Aramaic, and English all at the same time. As our voices filled the space with all of those varied sounds, the presence of the Healer that washed over us was palpable. 

One of the ways in which the Divine Healer worked with us and through us was in healing old, wounded misunderstandings. Some of the songs that we sing come from the Islamic tradition. We sing them in Arabic. And, as you are well aware, there is much fear and mistrust in our world today around anything to do with Islam. A prime example of that can be found in the phrase Allahu Akbar. We have heard it from the lips of terrorist, chanted with hatred and violence. But the truth is that it can be heard in other ways as well. It means God (the Sacred Reality which surrounds us in every moment and encompasses everything that is) is greater than anything else because there is nothing else. So one morning we were dancing to that sacred phrase, paired with another sacred phrase, La illaha  il allah (there is nothing except God), and I was suddenly overwhelmed by that reality. The whole world was filled with light and love and presence. I was there. Susan was there. Veronica was there. The whole world was there. And all I could do was stand there and weep sacred tears of awe and wonder. The Divine Healer doesn’t do anything halfway.

Another thing that happens when we come together in this sort of sacred space is that our spiritual toolbox is expanded. We discover more ways to open ourselves to the presence of the One. Our songs become prayers and the movements of our bodies merge with our words to enhance our praying. We were singing “Kyrie eleison. Christe Eleison. Alleluia. Alleluia.” (Lord have mercy. Christ have mercy.) The movements of the dance include a sweeping action from left to right which invites us to become aware of our hearts leading the way. And as I sang those words, and moved in that way, I became aware that my heart was indeed leading me towards a greater openness with God. It was a deep and profound experience in my body that took my praying to a whole other level.

And then, much as it began, the experience came to an end. We stripped the tent of its decorations, we dismantled the tent and packed it away until next year, we hugged each other and said our goodbyes, and we drove away. The sacred space was dissolved. Except, of course, that it wasn’t really gone. Each such experience is unique, and each is finite in its duration. But with each such experience we are opened to the broader awareness that we are surrounded in every moment by sacred space, and we are bound together beyond space and time in the sacred presence of the One. I invite you to open yourselves to such experiences and step ever more fully into that reality. I promise you that it will expand and transform your life and your living. Amen.