The song we have just sung, "Lord of the Dance," declares that the proper response on learning the meaning of the Gospel is to celebrate, to dance. This hymn is one of the less traditional hymns in our hymn book, written in the 1960's, which you may have guessed, when the Church began experimenting with new music. It was finally included in the 1988 hymnal.

It was written by an Englishman, a man named Sydney Carter, who put the words to the arrangement of the American Shaker hymn, "Tis a Gift to be Simple." The Shakers used to dance in their worship, so it is an appropriate setting.

I also chose it because it was requested that we sing it. I had not selected it for a long time, because the last time I did, it was requested that we never sing that hymn again. But I just want you to know t…