Dance with a Stranger
Let them praise God’s name with dancing, making melody to God with tambourine and lyre. – Psalm 149:3 (NRSV, adapted)
A college friend recently introduced me to a song I’d never heard, from a band I’d never heard of.
The band is Lake Street Dive, nicknamed LSD (which, for those of a certain age, means something very different!). The song is “Dance with a Stranger.” Curious, I gave it a listen soon after our conversation, and I was struck by the spiritual message in its lyrics, which say in part:
Look around the room; Find somebody you’ve never seen before, And lead them out to the dance floor. And dance, dance with a stranger, ’Til they’re not a stranger anymore
The music video captures the lyrics beautifully. A dazzling array of unlikely dance partners fills the floor: an African American drag queen sashays with a young white woman in a floral bonnet; a cleric grooves with a middle-aged man who might belong to another faith—or none at all. Even the initially stone-faced security guard gets his groove on and joins the crowd.
You can see it here: Dance with a Stranger.
I like to imagine the reign of God as one great dance floor—where there are no wallflowers, and everyone joins in. Picture it: a Fox News commentator doing the electric slide with their CNN counterpart, a rabbi learning the traditional Middle Eastern Dance dabke from an imam, and an Olympic athlete swinging their Special Olympics partner through a joyful square dance.
No one would be a stranger on that dance floor. And that would be praise that truly pleases God.
Prayer
Lord of the Dance, teach us to move in rhythm with love, until we are “no longer strangers and aliens.” Amen. (Ephesians 2:19)
About the AuthorFreeman Palmer serves as Conference Minister for the Central Atlantic Conference UCC.