The Christmas Dance

I want to focus this Christmas article on some of the wonderful insights that I have gained from reading Richard Rohr’s book, The Divine Dance, as well as J. Philip Newell’s book, Listening for the Heartbeat of God. I believe it connects directly to our Vision Statement, Moving in the Rhythm of Christ. I will be praying for you to join the dance and commit to moving rhythmically (dancing) to the heartbeat of Christ over this Advent/Christmas season of hope, peace, joy and love (the four Advent Candles).

Newell highlights a statement from Pelagius,

…it is not what you believe that matters, it is how you respond with your heart and your actions. It is not believing in Christ that matters; it is becoming like him.

Newell is challenging the notion that “belief” just has to do with our heads/minds, meaning that belief is cognitively understanding something. Having a cognitive belief in something or someone is not the same thing as being transformed by that someone or something (changing of the heart and then head). Satan is described in the Bible as “believing” in Jesus but is not transformed by his encounters with Jesus. There is no right relationship!

Dancing is all about relationship. It means moving in tandem with a partner. Even when one dances alone, one is not actually dancing alone, but rather dancing in rhythm with the music either heard or perceived (watch the movie August Rush). The coming of Jesus, God with us, is really the pivotal event that invites us to move into a trinitarian faith (Father, Son and Holy Spirit). This Trinitarian theology is surely mysterious and hard to understand cognitively. Rohr writes about the mystery of the Trinity,

If Trinity is supposed to describe the very heart of the nature of God, and yet it has almost no practical or pastoral implications in most of our lives… if it’s even possible that we could drop it tomorrow and it would be a forgettable, throwaway doctrine… then either it can’t be true or we don’t understand it!

…mystery isn’t something that you cannot understand—it is something that you can endlessly understand! There is no point at which you can say, “I’ve got it.” Always and forever, mystery gets you!

And we must—absolutely must—maintain a fundamental humility before the Great Mystery. If we do not, religion always worships itself and its formulations and never God.

Whatever is going on in God is a flow, a radical relatedness, a perfect communion between Three—a circle dance of love. And God is not just a dancer; God is the dance itself.

So, to sum it up, Rohr is giving us a metaphorical description of the Christian Trinity as a dynamic "circle dance" of love and perfect communion between Three (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit). It emphasizes that God is not a static entity, but rather the very process of relationship, flow, and communion itself—God is the dance, not just the dancer.

The Trinity as a "dance": The metaphor of a circle dance, using the Greek term "perichoresis", suggests a constant, rhythmic exchange of love and relationship between the three persons of the Trinity.

God as the "dance itself": By stating that God is the "dance itself," the quote moves beyond seeing God as a being who performs actions and instead sees God as the fundamental process of being and relating.

A flow of radical relatedness: The quote suggests that God is not a solitary being but a perpetual flow of "radical relatedness" and "perfect communion".

An invitation to participate: In Rohr's understanding of God’s divine dance, people are invited to see themselves as participants in this divine dance of love and transformation.

Many years ago on Christmas Eve, knowing that our children and grandchildren would all be in one house at one time after worshiping and eating dinner, and that we had begun a custom of opening some of the grandparent gifts that night, I planned ahead for the noise and commotion. So, I bought everyone a musical instrument of some kind. I bought kazoos, juice harps, etc. Then, on cue, everyone was invited to jump up and dance and make as much noise as possible! It really was fun… for a while!!!

What dance would there be without Jesus? Without the Holy Spirit? How can you participate in the holy dance apart from a living relationship with the Holy Trinity, following Jesus’ moves? Can you make sure to include dancing with God during the 2025 Advent and Christmas season? It might just enhance your experience of God’s hope, peace, joy and love made real in the incarnation of Jesus Christ!

Dr. Fitzgerald

¹ Richard Rohr, with Mike Morrell, The Divine Dance: The Trinity and Your Transformation (New Kensington, PA, Whitaker House, 2016).² J. Philip Newell, Listening for the Heartbeat of God (New York, Paulist Press, 1997).³ Newell, pg. 12.⁴ Matthew 4:1–11, Mark 1:12–13, and Luke 4:1–13.