During the final worship session of the youth convention at Pittsburgh 2011, the band played a popular worship song—Dance Like David. The song is unique in mainstream Christian music. It uses Latin beats and is sung in both Spanish and English. It was written by a Christian band called Salvador, which, based in Austin Texas, specializes in Latin funk music.
Its musical style bears little resemblance to Mennonite hymnody. Its syncopation does not lend itself to our typically stoic church posture positioned toward the pulpit. In the same way that the medieval chants invite contemplation and the Sankey’s hymns encourage boisterous choruses of tight harmony, Latin funk demands dance.
The lyrics even say as much:
“When the Spirit of the Lord moves upon my heart, I will dance like David danced.”
That is the entirety of the song. It is not difficult. Add bongos, claves, and timbales, and the rhythm becomes infectious. That is why I found that final worship session strange. With the synergy of the music and lyrics, not to mention thousands of excited young people, no one was dancing.
Well there were actually a few dancers. They were children. Childcare was closed by the final evening so all the youth sponsors, often young married couples, had to bring their children to worship. In the aisle, there were a number of little children jumping, bouncing, spinning, twirling, and driving themselves into an emotional tizzy as they became absorbed into the music. Of course such behavior was all rather inappropriate for a worship session, so their parents tried to corral them back to their seats. Continue reading
Want to know what a childless immigrant family and a black preacher have in common? I recently read Genesis 11-12 and soon found out.
Whenever I preach, I like to sing this simple Celtic tune before the scripture is read.