Recently, I took my first ballet class. Ever. I wasn’t one of those little girls dressed in tutus and pink tights who headed off to dance classes each week; I was more interested in reading and music. But ever since I was given a picture book called “The Little Ballerina,” I harbored a deep down desire to do ballet. And so finally, at the age of 45, I decided to give it a try, and now each Tuesday evening, I put on my ballet shoes and head into a studio to try to train my body to dance.
I expected it to be hard. My toes - and my hips - have to learn to point in new directions; I have to look in the mirror rather than at my feet. But what has been most difficult is to learn the vocabulary of ballet. Plié, relevé, tendu, dégagé, rond de jambe, attitude, pas de bourrée - each term has a corresponding movement, to be learned and demonstrated in action.
As Christians, we have our own unique vocabulary, a vocabulary of faith. It is comprised of words that speak specifically of the things of God. Some of them are words that have other, ordinary, meanings in the English language; others are unique to the church. They include words like sin, repentance, confession, and forgiveness, baptism and grace, justification, salvation and redemption, discipleship, witness and mission. And what distinguishes them from other words - as well as their technical meanings - is that each of these words invites us to act in a particular way.
When we talk about sin, repentance, confession, and forgiveness, we are not simply talking about theory. We are taking the risk of being honest with God, trusting that our foolish ways do not doom us, and opening ourselves to the healing forgiveness that Christ brings.
When we talk about baptism and grace, where the outward and visible signifies the inward and spiritual, we are venturing into the world of mystery, where water poured binds us to Jesus in his death and in his resurrection, and where God gives us more than we can ask or imagine.
When we talk about justification, salvation and redemption, we are letting go of our own independence and self-sufficiency, learning how to receive with thanksgiving, and realizing the freedom of this gift of new life.
When we talk about discipleship, witness and mission, we are committing ourselves to follow Jesus, sharing his life in our lives in everything we do and say.
Each word of our Christian vocabulary is not only to be learned, but to be lived into. To be demonstrated, in the life of faith.
Tuesday, I go back to ballet class. I think I’ve got the hang of the basic vocabulary, pliés and relevés, though that pas de bourrée still tangles my feet. But there’s time to learn; I have plenty of Tuesday nights ahead of me. Just as I have a lifetime ahead of me to continue to learn the vocabulary of faith, not only in my mind but in my heart and soul and life, grace and forgiveness, salvation and discipleship and mission, and above all else, resurrection.
