Dancing Cause I’m Loved Again

Lately I’ve been so thankful for music. The sacrament of melody. The lullaby of lyrics. It connects me with God, it teaches me, it transforms me, it energizes me. You know what I’m talking about, I hope.

I’m especially digging Copeland’s album, In Motion, and particularly the last four songs on the CD, all of which are connected by the theme of songs and singing. As far as I know, they are a secular band, but nonetheless their music is spiritual and with the theological lenses I love to put on, I see the love of God. Consider the first lines of the song, Love is a Fast Song, and hear them sung by your Father in heaven:

You don't have to be ashamed
'Cause you're a miracle through and through
Oh, and you don't have to be ashamed
Of the miracle inside of you

How encouraging, eh? How loving. I leave it to you to reflect on how you are indeed a miracle through and through.

But do we live with the freedom these words should give? Are we not hampered—are we not held back—by shame, by fear, by brokenness? And so we ask…

What has love become?
What has love become?
It's not like we used to hear in those old songs
And it's not like Yours
And it’s not like Yours
What has love become?

And then the despairing question transforms into worship, as we lose ourselves in divine love:

Whoa-o-oh...your love is in motion
And it's spinning me around, yeah
Whoa-o-oh...my heart is in motion
For the movement that's in you

What has love become?, we just asked. Well, here’s the Singer’s assessment:

You should not be angry
If all she wants is your money
Oh, you should not be angry
'Cause all you want is her body

The degradation of desire and love into greed and lust is our own doing, and it’s passed on by empty reciprocity. Why are you mad at her for wanting your money? Look at yourself, man, all you want is her body! Neither of you sees true value or real beauty in the other. Neither of you sees the miracle!

What has love become?
What has love become?
It's not like we used to hear in those old songs
And it's not like yours
And it's not like yours
What has love become?

Whoa-o-oh...your love is a fast song
And I'm dancing 'cause I'm loved again
Whoa-o-oh...my heart is in motion
For the rhythm inside you
Whoa-o-oh...your love is a slow song
It's resounding through my world again
Whoa-o-oh...my heart is in motion
For the song inside of you

Whoa-o-oh...your love is in motion
And it's spinning me around, yeah
Whoa-o-oh...your love is a fast song
And I'm dancing 'cause I'm loved again
Whoa-o-oh...your love is a slow song
It's resounding through my world again
Whoa-o-oh...my heart is in motion
For the song inside of you

Whoa, it’s wonderful to know the love of God. His love is in motion. He moves and he acts and he seeks and he redeems. His love is a fast song; his love is a slow song.

His love is in motion.

My heart is in motion.

It sees miracles and music and beauty and love and rhythm resounding in this world again. And in me.

There’s a song inside of me, and it’s his song and yet it's my own, and slowly but surely, as he pumps up the volume, the decay of death in and around me is overcome by life.

My heart is in motion for the rhythm inside of Him.

And his heart is in motion for the rhythm inside of us.

His love is in motion. It's moving. It moves us. And so we go out. We move, we live, we love, we bless. Motion toward others.

Mission in motion.

Now, if you’ve hung out around me, you might not think of me as a man who likes to get down. You’d be wrong though, because alone with my music and my God, I cut a rug. I recommend it.

Worship in motion.

The Lord your God is with you,
he is mighty to save.
He will take great delight in you,
he will quiet you with his love,
he will rejoice over you with singing.
Zephaniah 3:17

His love is a fast song, and he's singing over you. Take a listen.

[Does any of this make sense? Does anyone else enjoy finding God in the ‘secular’?]