When I was twelve years old, I put my little cassette tape player in the front pew, played some soaring music, had someone read the Isaiah passage about “wings as eagles” and I danced my first dance in church. The folks in this little rural church loved children so it wasn’t until many years later that I ever heard any inkling that dance was considered by some to be “unsuitable” for worship… thank goodness.

During my professional career in dance, I contacted churches wherever I would be traveling with the company to see if I could share dance in their worship if I happened to be there on a Sunday morning. Churches in Tokyo, Paris, Rome, London and elsewhere said “yes!” Through the expression of dance, there was no language barrier and I felt quite at home in each place. Looking back on it, these invitations were extraordinary because I’m sure there was some risk involved from the pastors who gave an affirmative answer to my out-of-the-blue request.

What I believe to be true is that the discomfort some feel about the expression of bodies in worship can be alleviated by “making a gesture” of profound simplicity and meaning. I never believed that I had to dance the triple turns and bend-over-backwards feats that I was doing in the theaters in order to communicate the Gospel. In fact, I’ve always believed that simple is the most profound when it comes to symbolic gesture. And I believe that we don’t all have to be professionals to offer this.

Here is an idea for Christmas Eve that I had the pleasure of doing several years ago. Invite someone to carry in a lantern during the reading about the appearance of the star in the East. When the message of the angel, “do not be afraid,” comes along, pause and have the lantern-carrying person simply walk the aisle lifting the lantern, shining its light on the congregation from one side to the other speaking the words softly over and over, “Do not be afraid” (you could have several people doing this as well). When I did this, I made a point to really look into people’s eyes and tell them not to be afraid. Tears welled up in many eyes. Knowing nods came back to me. “Thank you’s” came after the service.