Over the Rooftops, Step in Time
Not long after my eighth birthday the family went to the hit musical movie, Mary Poppins. I was like most. I loved everything about it. Only in my late adulthood did I think so deeply about it all. I have become fascinated with the two parts played by Dick Van Dyke. He plays of course the jovial chimney sweep, and also the dour and curmudgeonly Mr. Dawes Sr. the bank chairman of the board. The bank trustees are in the serious business of columns of numbers on ledgers. It is all about security and interest, loans, and investments. None of it is a matter of laughter. Around the conference table, they sit, impeccably clean in formal business dress, minding themselves, so as not to cross Mr. Dawes, Sr.
The character of Bert is different, as you know. He’s often filthy; he’s a chimney sweep. But even in this dangerous, physical job, he counts himself blessed. In his Chim Chim Cher-Ee song, he sings with his Cockney flair, “Though I spends me time in the ashes and smoke, in this 'ole wide world, there's no happier bloke,” then later, “Nowhere is there a more happier crew than them wot sings ‘Chim chim cher-ee, chim cher-oo’. When they go to visit Mary Poppins’s Uncle Albert in his small London home, it is Bert that seems bent on getting them all to laugh themselves straight up to the ceiling. And of course, Bert and all his sweep-chums dance the dickens out of the rooftops. They step in time every which way: kick the knees up, round the chimney, flap like a birdie, up on the railing, all over the rooftops.
What a contrast: see the furrowed brows of the trustees, and see leaping, twirling sweeps! Just look at that contrast between Mr. Dawes Sr. who can’t crack a smile, and Bert, so given to joy. I think we have both characters living inside of us. We are, most of us, pretty balanced: sometimes all business, sometimes feeling the joy, and ready to dance and laugh. I bring up the contrast to make an application to our spiritual sensibilities—how we approach God, and our faith. Sometimes we see faith in straight ledger columns like that of Mr. Dawes, Sr. Sometimes we see faith, as the curled whisps of smoke freely swirling in Bert’s rooftop world “between pavement and stars.”
I am interested in the question, what kind of mixture do we allow ourselves in faith for both ideas and feelings? Is there room in the Christian spiritual experience for feeling, or had we better stick to the safe and controlled realm of the intellect? In matters of religion, these poles are commonly juxtaposed. Christian groups that love to include feelings in their faith wonder how other groups move along so dryly. Groups that tend toward the formal, the theological, and ordered faith, wonder how others seem so drawn to the emotional.
I can see why Episcopalian folk might not want to fall over the edge into emotionalism, but honestly, is that really a danger? We have joyful liturgy here at St. Francis, especially with the quality of music we enjoy. Still, we have never lost anyone to fits of emotional fervor. We, individually, can afford to loosen up and feel a little something in all areas of our faith expression. Denominations that have roots in England and Western European nations such as Episcopalians, Presbyterians, Lutherans, and Methodists have all taken turns whimsically naming themselves “The Frozen Chosen”. It would be even funnier if we were not actually missing out on the joy of the Lord. We can risk a good spring thaw, and we will be all the better for it.
A woman in a formal Anglican church started responding aloud with affirmation during the sermon. An usher strode up the aisle to ask her. “Madam, what is going on?” She said, I am fine, I just got religion, that’s all.” To which the cross usher said, “Well, you didn’t get it here!”
We can laugh a little without floating up to the ceiling. We can take a break now and then and go fly a kite. What I am truly saying (since you might still be wondering) is that when you draw close to God it will involve both your thoughts and your feelings. I love to dive into ideas, images, and concepts of God, I think we all do. But we also need to know that spiritual experience should include our feelings as well. It’s beautiful when it does. This takes trust and willingness to let that happen.
When the disciples encountered their risen Lord, Jesus, their heads were not so much filling with concepts of resurrection as their hearts were filling with all kinds of emotions. Was it not the two disciples on the road to Emmaus who reflected, “Were not our hearts burning within us as Jesus talked to us along the road, as he opened the scriptures to us?” (Luke 24:32) We have both capacities, cognition, and emotions, so we can be balanced in our perceptions of God’s presence.
Think, ponder, line up your beliefs, but also, feel, laugh, cry, sway with the music. Take your faith, fold it just right. Reinforce it properly, attach a string and a tail, and let it go in the holy breeze of the Spirit.
“When you send it flying up there, all at once, you are lighter than air. You can dance on the breeze over houses and trees, with your fist holding tight to the string of a kite. Oh, oh, oh! Let’s go fly a kite.”