As someone who loves to sing (and pretend to dance), I've often thought life would be a lot more interesting if it were a musical where we broke out in song and dance to express ourselves. However, this rarely occurs (unless you stumble across a 'flashmob' that's just happens to be the cast of the Godspell revival).
But the lack of musical moments in real life hasn't stopped me from making mental connections between lectionary texts and musical tunes or other bits of popular culture.
Pentecost is this Sunday (time to put on your red everyone). The biggie text is Acts 2:1-21. Suddenly with the Spirit upon them, everyone starts speaking in the variety of languages used by the Jews from far away places who were visiting Jerusalem. Imagine the crazy cacophony.
Imagine the releasing, the freeing that the Spirit is doing among the disciples. This is the turning point from them being huddled up, turned in upon themselves, and uncertain what to do, to being freed to share God's story with the world. Visions, dreams, prophesy - freed from fear and "ought tos" to imagine a whole new future where a Messiah is crucified for the sake of the world.
Unsurprisingly some of them suggested, "They are filled with new wine." (Translation: They are drunk.)
Peter reassures folks that they aren't drunk (at least not drunk on wine maybe on the Holy Spirit). However the musical number that came to mind when I think of the joyful freedom does have someone who is a bit drunk. (She misunderstood the ratio of Bacardi to Milk in a Dolce de Leche.) When asked how she feels, she shares a whole variety of joy filled imagines, starting with "If I were a bell, I'd be ringing."
So how do you express the Spirit freed joy within you? How do you ring and swing?
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