Karen and I were married just over thirty-eight years ago, I often think back to our wedding day, I could cope with the ceremony and even the speeches, my greatest fear was our first dance. We took to the floor, neither Karen or I were dancers and as the music began, we kind of shuffled aimlessly and nervously, I managed to tread on the wedding dress and prayed that the moment would pass, thankfully, after what felt like an eternity others joined us, and we managed to get lost in the crowd. I manged a few moments of shuffling around the dance floor with both my daughters at their weddings, and that is just about the limit of my dancing experience and normally I try to avoid dancing at all costs.
When the BBC launched strictly come dancing in May 2004, I decided that it wasn’t the programme for me, I had no interest whatsoever in a dance competition and despite all the hype over the years, I managed to avoid the programme for seventeen years. I saw a clip of the Rose Aisling-Ellis dance in 2021 when the music was silenced and the experience of watching had a profound effect on me. I noticed that the paralympic swimmer, Ellie Simmonds was in the 2022 series, and I watched with interest. I decided not to watch this year, but was somehow drawn in, there is a bit of controversy this time because one of the celebrities is a trained dancer and has performed in West End musicals. I was initially irritated that the judges got excited at his ability, while Jody Cundy the Paralympian who has won eight gold medals was faced with very cutting criticisms and low scores.
My irritation was based on how a semi professional dancer can fairly compete against a man with a prosthetic limb, then it suddenly occurred to me, I am missing the point. Of course, the playing field isn’t level, but that isn’t the point. The real point is that whatever expertise people bring to the competition, it is about people stretching themselves to the limit. We assume that it is only the winner that matters, but week after week we see people of varying skills, work hard, push themselves to the limit and learn new skills and that must be worthwhile.
When we are in community with people, it is a joy to witness people trying new things. Here in the Ipswich Circuit, we are in the process of launching an initiative “MEGS” Methodist’s Encouraging Gift Sharing, the idea is that we look at what gifts we have and how we can share them with the wider community. As the concept has developed, we are also recognising some of the gifts that others have, that they can share with us. We grow as human beings when we try something new, or build on the gifts we have and in this fourth week as we think about a justice seeking church we remember that: –
God desires the flourishing of creation and human community within it.
The search for justice does not diminish or limit the flourishing of others but seeks to enable it.