I know that I’d break something were I to try even one of those steps.That's surely a reaction Matt got again and again: "But I don't know how to dance!" (Watch for just a bit, and you'll realize that Matt doesn't know how to dance, either.) You don't have to know how to dance, because we all know how to laugh and how to smile--skills we perfected in our first weeks of after birth. The world needs a does of joy! Laugh and smile enough, and people will wonder what you're up to. And when they ask, tell them about the King who is the cause of such great rejoicing.
Thanks a bunch, Elizabeth, for sending me that link last Sunday!
Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe B
If
you use email, it happens all the time:
somebody
forwards you a YouTube video.
You’ve gotta watch this! It’s the best!
You’ve gotta watch this! It’s the best!
Now—and
please, take no offence if you’ve sent me a link before—
but
since these videos are rarely
quite
as funny or inspirational as they’re made out to be,
I
usually watch just the first minute or two
with
my finger hovering over “Delete.”
Last
weekend, one of you—a parishioner—
sent
me an email that said, “This is really fun to watch.”
As
usual, I reluctantly pressed play and assumed the position…
…but
quickly realized that this video was different.
You
see, there’s this guy—Matt Harding, 36—
from
Seattle, Washington.
And
throughout this five-minute video, Matt is dancing.
As
it turns out, this is the fourth video of Matt dancing
to
make its way across the Internet in the last few years.
The
first two are series of scenes of him
dancing
alone in famous places around the world—
something
odd and mildly entertaining.
In
the next two videos,
Matt
still travels widely
but
now gets other people—total strangers—
to
join him in front of the camera and dance.
And
it’s totally captivating.
I’m
talking here about thousands of people,
following
Matt’s lead in clip after clip.
In
that fourth video alone,
Matt
dances in 11 U.S. states
and 55 different countries.
Many
of the locations are pretty predictable:
folks
in Boston, Berlin, and Beijing,
bopping to the beat.
Matt
starts dancing with a few folks—
some
who’ve contacted him earlier online—
and
then a curious crowd starts to gather.
Before
you know it,
they’re all mimicking his crazy moves.
And
they’re smiling—big smiles.
And
laughing—a lot.
While
the dancing is certainly catchy,
more
infectious yet is the raw joy
which accompanies it.
What
makes this more remarkable still
is that Matt has made a point
to
go and dance in places
that we often hear about in the news,
but
not for being particularly happy—
places
like Rwanda and North Korea,
like Cairo and Kabul and Gaza.
Obviously,
I’ve been thinking about this video all week.
And
whenever I do, I smile.
And
I’m clearly not alone:
millions
and millions of people
have watched Matt and
shared his videos.
And
they’ve left all kinds of comments:
– You’re my hero!
– Matt for President!
Some
of the comments run much deeper:
– Sometimes I feel that Matt
is the only hope for the human race...
Maybe
these folks
are overstating things just a bit.
It’s
not like Matt’s dancing
has ended war or relieved hunger.
He
is, after all, making moves,
not starting a movement.
And
yet I can’t help but think that Matt’s dancing
is
really making a difference in the world.
Does
that sound far-fetched? Sure it
does.
But
so does the fact that a Jewish peasant from a backwater town,
condemned
to die on a Roman cross 2,000 years ago,
should
be honored by more than a billion souls—
one
in six people now alive on planet earth—
as
humanity’s only Savior and our universal King.
And
that, of course, is precisely
what’s
happening in the Catholic Church around the globe this very day.
One
person can change the world.
Just
two weeks ago,
500
of them for you to keep,
500
of them for you to give away.
I was
on retreat then, so I didn’t see them go out…
…but
I have already started to see the results coming in.
If
you’re sitting in this church right now
because
a friend or neighbor invited you back
(and
I’ve been told some people are),
I
want you to know:
we’re
so glad you’re here!
But
I’ve also been moved by the active parishioners
who
have come to tell me about their experience
of
giving a book away.
They’ve
all had the same look I saw in Matt’s video:
every
one of them has been beaming;
there’s
been a light of joy on each of their faces.
In encouraging
somebody else,
they’ve
been renewed and encouraged themselves.
We
live in a world
where there are plenty of things
that
bring out the worst in people.
True
confession:
I
went out with my mother and my brother
to Wal-Mart at
8:00pm on Thanksgiving night.
Bad, bad idea!
We
were there less than five minutes,
we didn’t buy a thing,
and
we all went home pretty disturbed.
It
might be the closest I’ve ever seen
human beings come to behaving
like animals.
Why
not, instead, be people who go out
and
help change things for the better?
Matt
Harding has found an incredible way to bring people joy.
But
while I’m greatly inspired by his work,
I
don’t think one man’s dancing is going to save the world.
And
it doesn’t have to.
Because
I believe one man’s death already has.
And
believing such good news,
in
a world where so much news is so very bad,
how
could I possibly keep that to myself?
This
Sunday’s solemnity
of
our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe,
is
the perfect time to recall
that
we are called to be part of a cosmic choreography.
God’s
only begotten Son, the Alpha and the Omega,
who
from the first set the world firmly on its foundation
and
will come in glory amid the clouds at its end,
lived,
died, and rose again in human flesh and blood
to
teach us a few essential steps,
that
we might dance on earth to the music of heaven.
There
is great joy in joining this dance,
and
even greater joy in inviting others to join, too.
We don’t
think twice
about
forwarding silly videos to everybody we know.
Why
do we hold back
when
it comes to forwarding our faith?
Sure—somebody
might quickly hit, “Delete.”
But
why keep from them something
that
could bring more than just a smile—
something
that could bring them salvation?
When
I look out into the pews during Mass,
“joy”
is not, unfortunately, the first thing I see on most people’s faces.
But
if we’ve come to hear our King’s voice speak the truth,
if
we’ve come to take our place at his royal table,
then
shouldn’t our joy be just as evident, just as contagious,
as it
is with all those people watching and dancing with Matt?
My
friends, let’s recapture the joy!
And
let’s not fear to spread it around.
Do
so, and we can change the world.
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