God’s Great Dance Floor

In my message last week I shared about an experience when God most powerfully manifested his presence in a worship experience at a Promise Keepers event in St. Louis. If you’ve ever had an experience like that then you know you don’t quickly forget it because of the overwhelming sense of awe and delight, love and peace. It’s a spiritually euphoric experience birthed through intimacy with God.

Although I don’t believe God calls us to seek those euphoric experiences, I have found they happen often during worship through song. Such was the case a few weeks ago when I was listening to a song on YouTube by Chris Tomlin entitled God’s Great Dance Floor.

Now when you first hear the song or read the lyrics, you might wonder what the big deal is. It goes like this:

I’m coming back to the start
Where you found me
I’m coming back to your heart
Now I surrender
Take Me
This is all I can bring

I’m coming back to the start
I got this freedom
In here we feel your heart
Your heartbeat for us
Take Me
This is all I can bring

You’ll never stop loving us
No matter how far we run
You’ll never give up on us
All of heaven shouts let the future begin
Let the future begin
Take me
This is all I can bring

You’ll never stop loving us
No matter how far we run
You’ll never give up on us
All of heaven shouts let the future begin
Let the future begin

I feel alive, I come alive
I am alive on God’s great dance floor

Again, the song is just a simple chorus, nothing profound doctrinally, yet very rich in theology. But here’s why I believe God manifested his presence for me when listening to the song. In the chapter on Halal The Fools of Praise in his book, Holy Roar, Chris Tomlin tells the story of how he and Martin Smith had gathered for a song writing session.

Chris explained how Martin had written an extended ballad entitled “Back to the Start,” which explored prodigal themes of return and rescue. Chris found it to be “a beautiful song—melodic, almost transfixing. And just when I thought it might end, it began to build, and build, and build into a closing refrain of celebration: I feel alive on God’s great dance floor.” A bit surprised by that line, Chris asked Martin, “What was that?” To which Martin explained, “It’s the prodigal return. When we come back to the Father, he throws a party. It’s not a time of lament, but rather a time of celebration—it’s a time to dance like a child.”

Months later, Tomlin found himself preparing to use the song at the Passion 2013 Conference (Annual Passion Conferences purpose is “to unite students in worship and prayer for spiritual awakening in this generation”). But first, because Tomlin also believes that worship is often more about seeing than singing, he went to a local Mexican restaurant and found a mariachi trumpeter to play with them.

Later, reflecting on the amazing response to the song, Tomlin wrote, “The crowd kept clapping, kept moving, but you could see it, they were transfixed by the man who seemed so out of place in the moment. He raised his trumpet, and when he played the first note, the stadium erupted. It was a dance party, a party of praise. It was a party fit for the return of the prodigals, the return of all sons and daughters.”

As I watched the YouTube video and reflected on my years of wandering far from God, I felt overwhelmed by God’s love expressed through his patient and graceful way with me. I thought about how the father ran to the son and welcomed him home and how he immediately called for a party… and then God manifested his presence and I began to weep as I thought about the longing in my heart to be a little more undignified in   my worship.

If you are able, I would encourage to watch God’s Great Dance Floor on YouTube, and imagine what the celebration was like when you returned home.

Halal, a fool of praise,

Mike Altena