'Tis the gift to be simple, 'tis the gift to be free,
'Tis the gift to come down where we ought to be,
And when we find ourselves in the place just right,
'Twill be in the valley of love and delight.
When true simplicity is gain'd,
To bow and bend we shan't be asham'd,
To turn, turn will be our delight,
Till by turning, turning we come 'round right.
(Shaker. 1845, Elder Joseph Brackett)
Turning, turning to come ‘round right. What an interesting image. What happens when you turn, turn on the dance floor? Well first of all, you get dizzy! Then when you stop turning, you realize you haven’t covered much ground; you’ve covered the same ground over and over again. You’ve covered the same ground over and over again. But this is the image Elder Brackett uses to describe living life here, and then by extension, entering into God’s heavenly care.
One would assume that “coming round right”, especially when it comes to our relationship with a holy and loving God, would involve a straighter path! The Christian’s life is called a journey. We are supposed to start somewhere and end up somewhere else. It would be helpful if we could look over our shoulder and see the experiences, lessons learned, places and people we were in contact with back there.
But I think Brother Joseph had a point. His short musical confession here was born out of the experience of the holy in the daily things of life. Sounds like freedom, if you ask me! Tis the gift to be simple, tis the gift to be free. Round and round goes the rhythm of the day. We begin and we end with our need for a gracious God. We begin and we end with the presence of a gracious God. It’s a dance of little circles. It lasts for one’s whole life, and it is beautiful.
Easter Sunday happens this month. So does the darkness that leads up to it. Holy Week, for example, will have the Maundy Thursday service, and an ecumenical Good Friday service, which will recount the days in which Jesus turned toward the cross, toward also the sin of the world, and toward the only death that gives life to the world. Easter Sunday, it’s as if the circle opens for a brief time, now looking less like a circle and more like arms outstretched in praise. The circle forms again until the next resurrection.
