Moving in LOVE TOGETHER :Integrating Sacred Dance into Worship/Spiritual CommunitiesBy JoyBeth Lufty  Many have experienced their most connected feelings of oneness with God, the Divine Source while watching and moving through Sacred Dance. Sacred Dance is movement that connects us directly with the Divine Creative Source, with the LOVE energy available to us all. Dance is this world’s oldest form of prayer. Every religion and spirituality has at least a past, if not present, where movement was/is transformed into awareness and connection with the Divine Source. Dance has been studied for years, and what dancers have intuitively known and experienced has been confirmed. Dance is therapeutic, physically, emotionally, spiritually healthy, and uplifting for us. It helps us to stay clearer and smarter intellectually. It also allows us to connect with others and our deepest selves. It is a straightforward way to experience and share the energies of oneness, the spirit of love.
There are four different ways that we can integrate dance in a sacred or spiritual practice into our current worship and spiritual communities:
Inspirational Movements
Body PrayersBody Prayers are a form of Sacred Dance that helps us express ourselves more fully by using our body, voice, and inner thought to connect directly with The Divine. They combine physical movement and gestures with spiritual significance, meditation, rhythm, and repetition. A leader usually teaches everyone participating in and attending the service, both the movements and the words/songs.
Most religions/spiritual practices have Body Prayers. Many newer ones being created these days use words that are inclusive for all, such as “A Circle of Love Surrounds Us.”
| MUSIC DOWNLOADS By Mary Louise Bringle Tune By McKee Lyrics & Arr. Reverend Cliff Aerie By Tom Trenney By Jean Sibelius By Jean Sibelius Arr. WWL By Jean Sibelius Arr. WLW CROSSES
This Celtic wheel cross is a form of Christian cross that emerged in Ireland, France and Great Britain in the Early Middle Ages. It became widespread through its use in the stone high crosses erected across the islands, especially in regions evangelized by Irish missionaries. This cross is not to be confused with a variation that was appropriated for use as a symbol of white supremacy. The symbol is vastly used by non-extremists in contexts such as Christianity, neo-Paganism, and Irish patriotism. |
Inspirational movements added to the songs by singers and choirs in sacred celebrations or services enable the audience or congregants to relate to the song’s messages and emotions on a deeper level. These movements are symbolic of the words or messages being sung or played and are usually reasonably simple yet profound in their motion and emotion. Therefore, they are easy to add and do not require any added cost or persons to implement and integrate.
As Gerardus Van Der Lewiv, in Sacred and Profane Beauty: The Holy in Art, reminds us: “There was a period when art and religion stood so close to each other that they could almost be equated. Song was prayer, drama was divine performance, and dance was magical-holy-powerful accompanying and stimulating all the processes of life.”
JoyBeth Lufty, or drjoy, President of The Sacred Dance Guild 2009-2013 and a Movement Minister with a Doctor of Ministry in Spirituality, delights in consulting on how to integrate Sacred Dance into the Worship/Spiritual community and can be contacted at .svg.png)
Worship, Music & Ministry is a publication of the United Church of Christ Musicians Association, Inc. and is issued three times a year. The journal is distributed to members of UCCMA as a benefit of membership. All correspondence concerning membership in UCCMA, changes of address and other inquiries should be addressed to the United Church of Christ Musicians Association, P.O. Box 370631, West Hartford, CT 06137. Information about the United Church of Christ Musicians Association is available at www.uccma.org. Copyright © 2023 by the United Church of Christ Musicians Association, Inc. |
|
