“Can sainthood be redefined in progressive terms? For the past decade, an artist named Mark Dukes has been demonstrating that it can.”
So wrote Phillip Barcio in the May/June 2009 issue of Tikkun, as he introduced our readers to Dukes’s mural The Dancing Saints, which was commissioned by the St. Gregory of Nyssa Church in San Francisco. In the mural, ninety men and women from history dance hand-in-hand in a circle with Jesus. We only had space to print a few images alongside Barcio’s article about the mural, but you can now see more of this inspiring work in Tikkun Daily’s art gallery.
St. Gregory’s holds weekly community food pantry gatherings that bring unity in an age of division and warfare. Every Friday, this free market provides for the countless hungry who show up. In the following video, you can see this in action. And if you look closely, you can see The Dancing Saints watching over this offering to the community. Also, check out St. Gregory’s site for more information about this and other services.
[youtube: video=”9PwKqzmnuEc”]
One of the best worship “services” I’ve ever seen! These people are amazing. What a perfect way to use a sanctuary and praise God.
I’ve been blessed to be at a presentation by the person who heads up this endeavor. It is an incredible story.
Thanks for sharing this YouTube and the images of the dancing saints. No wonder they’re dancing.
The legendary man who “threw fire” Satchel Paige, born in Mobile, Alabama, began playing semi-pro baseball in 1924 in his hometown. He jumped around to different Negro League teams until 1948, when he became the oldest rookie in the Major Leagues. He is also famous for the insight:
Work like you don’t need the money.
Love like you’ve never been hurt.
Dance like nobody’s watching.
Poet, novelist, feminist activist, Alice Walker wrote about dancing during her recent trip to Gaza organized by Code Pink:
“Rolling into Gaza I had a feeling of homecoming. There is a flavor to the ghetto. To the Bantustan. To the “rez.” To the “colored section…Nothing to do, finally, but dance…”The women and I and everyone with us from Code Pink went across the hall to a big common room where music was turned up full volume. At first I sat exchanging smiles and murmurs with an ancient grandmother who was knitting booties, and who gave me two pairs, for my own grandchildren. Sitting didn’t last. Without preamble I was pulled to my feet by several women at once, and the dance was on. Sorrow, loss, pain, suffering, all pounded into the floor for over an hour. Sweat flowing, wails and tears around the room. And then, the rising that always comes from such dancing; the sense of joy, of unity, of solidarity and gratitude to be in the best place one could be on Earth; with sisters who have experienced the full measure of disaster and have the heart to rise above it. The feeling of love is immense. The ecstasy, sublime. I was conscious of exchanging and receiving Spirit in the dance. I also knew that this Spirit, which I have encountered in Mississippi, Georgia, the Congo, Cuba, Rwanda and Burma, among other places, this Spirit that knows how to dance in the face of disaster, will never be crushed. It is as timeless as the wind. We think it is only inside our bodies, but we also inhabit it. Even when we are unaware of its presence internally, it wears us like a cloak.”
“Dancing, whose root meaning in many indigenous cultures is the same as breath or spirit, is a very ancient and appropriate form in which to pray.”-Article 36, “A New Reformation” by Matthew Fox.
“Bach gave us God’s word. Mozart gave us God’s laughter. Beethoven gave us God’s fire. God gave us music that we might pray without words.”-German opera house proverb:
“If I can’t dance, it’s not my revolution.”-Emma Goldman