The Hokey Pokey – Is That What It's All About

Philippians 3:4-11 & John 12:1-8
If you remember the Hokey Pokey, you're  giving away your age.  If you are under 39 years old, you may not understand it. The Hokey Pokey is a community participation dance that has empowered a lot of wedding receptions and gatherings where people are feeling happy and a little crazy. After all, that’s what it’s all about…isn’t it? Sing it with me: “You put your right foot in, you put your right foot out. You put your right foot in, and you shake it all about. You do the Hokey Pokey and you turn yourself around. That’s what it’s all about.”

What if that IS what it’s all about? Putting your right foot in – at the right time. Putting your right foot out – at the right time. Putting your right foot in and shaking it all about – using the right motion and the right timing. Doing the right things, at the right times. That’s the Hokey Pokey, but I don’t think St. Paul would agree that this is what it’s all about.

You see, in his letter to the church at Philippi, he told them he had done all the right things at the right times. He was perfect in the eyes of the tradition and law. But, he said, that’s not what it’s all about. It’s not about following the law perfectly. The law never brings us peace. We can see today how much it is bringing us pain, and division, and judgment. From the Lutheran perspective, the purpose of the law is to bring us a recognition of our inability to follow it. The law cannot save us. It drives us to the mercy of God. Only the grace of God in Jesus Christ can save us.

Once we recognize that God sent his Son inspite of our sin, then we can do the Hokey Pokey – we can dance, we can rejoice, we can share in the peace and joy that God’s mercy and grace brings to us. We can see the Law for the blessing it is to us. We follow it, not because it is required but because it brings us joy and delight.

We gather with family and friends, and we dance. We do the Hokey Pokey. We put our right foot in – at the right time. We put our left foot in – at the right time. We put our right foot in and we shake it all about – doing the right things: following the law as love dictates and becoming the hands of Jesus Christ in the world. Grace is about dancing in the grace of God’s mercy and love. We do the Hokey Pokey and we turn ourselves around – because Jesus Christ is what it’s all about.

Dancing with my Father God in a field of grace,
PWM