“In Him we Live and Move and have our Being.” Acts 17.28
God has given us our amazing bodies to move and dance with in whatever way we can. The other day I came across Chris Tomlins new song ‘HOLY ROAR‘, it took my breath away. It spoke right into my core, about why I move and dance, and the strength, passion and integrity with which I do it. It prompted an opportunity to share at our latest Living Colour workshop how we could explore Dancing with a Holy Roar.
But what does Holy Roar actually mean? It’s best to start by looking at how the dictionary defines each word.
Lets start with Holy – dedicated or consecrated to God, sacred. Which sounds a great way to describe this special word. Participants at the workshop also came up with the following –
- Special/ quietness – an awe
- Pure, sacred. Set apart and hard to translate
- Jesus dying on the cross. What he did for us
In essence, Holy, is something that is indescribable, beyond words, definitely set apart and something special.
Whilst Roar is defined as – a full deep, prolonged cry uttered by a lion or wild animal. That’s pretty intense isn’t it?! Other words came up in discussion such as –
- Power
- Roaring like a lion
- Strong
- Loud
- Aggressive/ emotive
How can we link these two words together? If I now asked you what you think Holy Roar means as one thing what would you say?
- Cry for justice from a place of deep grief or righteous anger
- From the belly – it uses your whole being
- Confrontation with all your strength but you’re 100% up for it
- Freedom
What do you think it means to have a Holy Roar in dance ministry and life? Massive questions hey! But have a think, how could you move and dance with Holy Roar as your foundation?
My favourite line from the responses above has to be the picture of ‘from the belly’, because actually that’s what it’s all about. When we worship, when we cry out to God, when we battle and declare he is victorious. We are putting our whole heart into it. We’re choosing to be strong, clear, and direct with our movement and what we want to declare.
Think of it like your belt of truth. The belt is something that holds things in place, stabilises your core and carries things. If you have a weak core, your ability to move efficiently will be diminished. The core of moving and dancing comes from knowing the truth in the Bible. I love the imagery of tightening the belt the more you know. It’s like you’re choosing to take a stand point and are notching in ready for the fight!
So when you choose to move and dance. Think about the stand point you are taking, and how you can use a Holy Roar in your movement.
