Gathering creatives

The Rev Ruth Kennedy highlights how August and the Edinburgh Fringe bring opportunities to celebrate faith through digital ministry.

DANCE, dance, everybody dance. Everybody sing, for joy is in this place now!

Lyrics from the Tim Hughes praise song, have you heard it? I love that you can search ‘dance song’ and this is one of the options listed. It sits alongside Abba’s Dancing Queen, God’s Great Dance Floor by Chris Tomlin, Hit the Dance Floor from Fischy Music, and, for fear of the other suggestions provided by the search algorithm revealing my enjoyment of 90s dance songs, I will leave it there!

Whilst some of us might enjoy dancing more than others, we have a good biblical basis for it. Perhaps the most well-known reference to dancing is with Miriam the prophet who led all the women in singing to the Lord and in dance in Exodus 15 after God powerfully freed them from slavery in Egypt and then miraculously from the chasing grip of Pharaoh and his army.

In Psalms, Ecclesiastes and Jeremiah dancing is an expression of worship, praise and joy, and thankfulness for God’s tender-hearted mercy and compassion after heart-sore times. Or what about in 2 Samuel 6 when King David and all Israel were bringing the ark of the Lord to the City of David and the King is famously ‘dancing before the Lord with all his might’ – leaping and dancing. Had the author of 2 Samuel been familiar with Scottish vernacular it could have read:

‘and all could see King David gie it laldy’! Maybe others joined in like they did with Miriam, the outpouring of joy quite infectious. For there is something quite appealing when the people of God are rejoicing, celebrating, dancing even. When the worshippers of Jesus gather to creatively express their hearts of love and gladness to God. Digital ministry isn’t just engaging with the internet, speaking the language of digital natives and using all available tools to share the good news. It also gathers creatives; people gifted and part of the creative community; the filmmakers and photographers, the poets, artists and crafters, singers, musicians and orators who are immersed and sent into the world of arts and culture with a heart and passion to connect and serve – including at the Edinburgh Festival and Fringe.

Sanctuary First is again at the Fringe hosting the podcast series ‘Faith at the Fringe’. Exploring and discussing the place of Faith at the Fringe and how performers and artists bring faith to the fringe for us all to ponder.

“ Whilst some of us might enjoy dancing more than others, we have a good biblical basis for it.”

And also, we are dancing! In partnership with Ian El Paget, we are hosting Praise Ceilidhs in St Cuthbert’s Church during the Fringe. A unique fusion of our Scottish culture and hearts of worship so we can be like Miriam and David and ‘gie it laldy’ for God!

These afternoon and evening ceilidhs really bring the joy of Jesus to the dancefloor and are perfect for us to bring our friends and family to. Please check the Sanctuary First website for tickets and details.

This month, please pray for those sent to the creative community to bring, show, tell and be the love of Jesus to aching hearts and creative minds, that they and we can ‘gie it laldy for God’ whether that includes dancing or not. ¤

The Rev Ruth Kennedy is Digital Ministries Advisor for the Church of Scotland and minister with Sanctuary First.