#550 - I'll Take My Jesus Dancing
by Ken Bradbury
My coffee? Yeh, I'll take it black. My fiction, slightly salty ... And oh ... Oh, let it fill the air ... I'll take my Jesus dancing. Not the bleeding, suffering Jesus, woeful Jesus of the thorns, Are you washed in the Guilt of the Lamb? Not the stained-glass, pious Jesus, holy-moldy church-hung Jesus, I'll take my Jesus dancing.
Not the painful, trudging Jesus, hanging on the cross of Sony, Not the awe-ful, noble warrior, tramping o'er the heads of sinners; Not the Son of Sorrows Jesus, Not the Lamb so stained with blood, Not the bruised and beaten icon stained with leaded glass & wood. Not the pulpit pounding ranter, not the screaming Dixie banshee. "My Jesus don't beat Bibles, boy!"
Not the tele-prompter Jesus, 1-800-FOR-A-BLESSING, Not the Technicolor pirate “When my Rolls' recalled up yonder you'll be saved” Not the white tuxedoed savior, taking Nashville buck by buck, Not the silk-lined, smooth-tongued savior, topping charts with fiscal song; Not the slick and quick-tongued hawker, Ruse of Sharon, Quick to Save ... Not the mansion-building prophet, blindly binding bucks with blessings.
My Jesus sings, my Jesus smiles, my Jesus taps his feet with joy. Daring birds to match his tenor … Taunting meadowlarks to join ... Bringing crows into the contest ... His head tossed back in gales of laughter, His eyes convulsed to joyous squints ... And when he laughs, the mountains answer; When he roars, the hills respond. And when he dances ... Jesus dances ... all creation joins the chorus.
His cutoff jeans unstained by tints of liturgies and histories ... His T-shirt white and happily frayed,
A logo blazoned cross his chest "No Fear! Just Life!” His laughing eyes ... tearless now; He winks at me, a secret shared ... A tiny glimpse of what's in store ... Only teasing with a taste … there’s more … there’s more.
I'll take my Jesus dancing, mountain high and treetop tall ... Dancing with the wind beneath him, dancing with the sun around him, Moonlight dancing, sparrow dancing, bare feet tickling water dancing, Dancing through the prairie summer, dancing o'er the lakes of winter; Jumping, Floating, whirlwind making, I'll take him ... take my Jesus dancing.
Get down, J-man! Let them see you! Tapping out the tune of Glory! Sidestep all the piety so lightly ... Do it, J-man! Do it lightly ... stop the show ... bring down the house! Awed, Bo Jangles smiles in envy ... Cowed, Astaire shouts "Do it, Baby!" Clog with all the love that's in ya, Rock-a-bye my baby blue-note! Tip the lights and rock creation ... Dance it, J-man! Let them feel it!
And laughing ... did you hear that? Laughing? Laughing like the lark was holy! Laughing, gut-bust, rib-tickling, Laughing from a new-found depth of joy now. Laughing ... deep and gutsy roaring Laughing as all fear is beaten! Laughing! Laughing! Laughing! Dancing!
We've made our myths to match our sorrows, Built assumptions from our fears, Sanitized our own presumptions of your spirit through the years. Show us now, oh Spirit Dancer ... Show us now the steps you dance, Show the secrets to your two-step, rumba, cha-cha, spirit dance. Oh, let it roll and rock and rumble, take the stage and make your stance. Rock on, Rock on, oh lovely Jesus ... show us how to dance your dance!
And then, yes then, we'll know the meaning ... Then, yes then, we'll taste the grace. Then, yes then, we'll run to join you. Dance it, Jesus! Jesus, dance!
END
“I’ll Take My Jesus Dancing” is an excerpt from the play Word Dance by Ken Bradbury and Robert L. Crowe. Copyright granted by the Library of Congress, 1998 (PAu2-267-098.) ISBN 0-9644681-7-4.
The Author Kenneth W. Bradbury Ken Bradbury (B. A. Illinois College) is arguably the most performed author in the nation’s speech and drama competition, having authored over 100 selections including 50 plays. He is an active syndicated newspaper columnist and has published four books, Coonridge Digest, Around the World With Freida Marie Crump , Coonridge Devotions and homerville. Ken is a national speaker on writing for the theatre and co-author of “Shadow of Giants,” a Lincoln courtroom drama aired on PBS-TV. He has won the Illinois Lincoln Library Award as Outstanding Author of the Year, the McGaw Citation in the Arts awarded by Illinois College, and other recognition. He is a teacher of Creative Arts at the college level. Ken currently resides in Arenzville, Illinois.
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