The Dance

One of my favorite poets, Wendell Berry, uses the metaphor of a couple dancing to describe twists and turns of life.  In his poem, “The Dance,” he asks: 

What is fidelity? To what

does it hold? The point

of departure, or the turning road

that is departure and absence

and the way home? What we are

and what we were once

are far estranged.

How would you answer the question?  Are we grounded in the origins of our journeys or the destination—or something in the middle?  Berry describes what we all experience in the ebb and flow of our relationships: departure, absence, return, change.

For Christians, the “point of fidelity” isn’t abstract: it’s grounded concretely in the promise of a New World that brings all of our journeys to their proper destination.

In the Book of Revelation, all of the threads that originate from the very beginning in Genesis 1 and that are woven throughout Scripture find their way into John’s vision.  There, the story of God and people come to resolution.  

That’s why the Book of Revelation has the unique statement that “blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it…”  (Rev. 1:3).  Jesus the Messiah is the Alpha and the Omega—the Beginning and the End, “the point of departure…and the way home.”  

I look forward to seeing you on Sunday to discover more about the dance and the way home.

Steve Engstrom+

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