One of the mental images that have endured from my reading of The Shack by William P. Young, is of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in a joyful dance together, and they are inviting Mack to join them in that dance.

Some take exception to the theology in the book, but the idea of the Trinity in a dance is not new.  C.S. Lewis said, “God is not a static thing—not even a person—but a dynamic, pulsating activity, a life, almost a kind of drama. Almost, if you will not think me irreverent, a kind of dance.”

If you read John chapter 17, you will understand that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit glorify each other.  Timothy Keller refers to these scriptures when he says the three persons of the Trinity center on or orbit around each other.  They exalt and commune with each other, and this depicts the dance – a dance of joy and love.

We are invited to enter into that dance with the Trinity; to orbit our life around the Godhead.  Entering into this dance requires us to resist the urge to have it all be about us.  We can’t stand still, and expect everything to orbit around us.  We’re not participating in the dance when we do that.

The dance we are invited into is about giving glory.  The Oxford dictionary defines glorifying something as acknowledging and revealing the majesty and splendor of something by one’s actions.  We glorify the Trinity when we adore and praise God in all three persons, and when we serve Him without any conditions.

How much of your prayer life is about praising God versus asking Him for things?  The awful truth is that the hardest part of prayer can often be praise.  We find ourselves in a rut, repeating the same phrases over and over again.  But God has provided us with a wealth of words to use in our praise to Him in the Bible.  God has written an entire book to us and for us.  And how can we be in a relationship with God and have deep conversations with Him, without ever even referring to any of the words He has spoken to us through the Bible?  If you want to start enriching your praise of God, a good place to start is in the Psalms.

The second part of glorifying God is through our unconditional service to Him.  We serve God not in an effort to control Him.  We don’t obey Him so that He will somehow owe us and do what we want Him to do.  That would be placing us in the center of things, and selfishly trying to get God to orbit around us.  That’s not the dance of joy and love we are invited to join.

Heavenly Father, the heavens declare your glory; the skies proclaim the work of your hands.  Your precepts are right and give joy to my heart.  Your commands are pure and give light to my eyes.  They are more precious than gold, and sweeter than from the comb.  May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer.  Amen. (Psalm 19)