“Making Mummies Dance”
“Making the Mummies Dance” is the title of Dr. Thomas Hoving’s memoir. In 1966 he became the Commissioner of Parks in New York City under Mayor John V. Lindsay. Hoving had earned a Ph.D. in art history from Princeton and had previously worked at the prestigious Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Not many months after joining Lindsey’s administration the museum’s director died suddenly and the board asked Hoving to accept the position. He approached Mayor Lindsey saying, “I have been offered the Metropolitan Museum of Art. I’d like to take it.”
Lindsey replied, “Well it’s kind of dead over there. But you should go there because you could make the mummies dance.”
Isn’t that a wonderful image?! Dancing mummies!
Why do people dance? There are many reasons but I suspect it’s most often an expression of deep emotion or passion – joy and love. Think about when people dance; wedding celebrations, athletes and fans after a victory, the end of a war, in worship of God.
My sermon is not about encouraging us to dance, but inspiring us to unleash the joy, love, passion and hope that dancing represents.
But what do the mummies represent? Death. Someone used to live but has died.
Today, let’s think of mummies as pieces of our lives that once lived, but have died. I’ll come back to that in a moment.
Our hearts and minds are like a museum. Old things are stored and preserved there; memories of experiences, people, places, facts and information. Sometimes we visit to view them, study them, ask how these changed the trajectory of our lives, what we learned, or what we’ve lost. Some memories in that museum inspire us to laugh, to cry, to think, to pray, to worship or to look away.
We keep some mummies in the museum of our memory – pieces of our life that have died. Your mummy may be a dream, a relationship, your sense of self-worth, your former spirit of determination. What mummies are entombed in the museum of your memory?
Why did those parts of you die?
Was it criticism? Someone said, “You can’t…” or “You’re such a loser” and you gave them the power to determine who and what you are.
Maybe it was fear. You decided, “This is way beyond me. What if I really mess up?”
Perhaps it was a death by misdirected priorities. You may have misjudged the value of things demanding your energy, or you became careless about what was really important.
Maybe you were misled. You believed a lie or put faith in another person and suspended your own dreams only to be led down a dead end.
Can any of your mummies live again? Can they dance?
Maybe some of them shouldn’t. That’s okay. Leave them and move on.
But some of them really should live again. So how can you make that mummy dance? How can you give life to parts of you that really should live but are locked away in a stale, dusty crypt?
We can find help from a time when dreams had died for many of God’s people. For their rebellion God had allowed them to be taken in captivity to Babylon and they thought life was over. But I believe there is help for us to be found in what God said to them, recorded in Jeremiah 29.
1. Believe in God’s desire to give you a great future.
I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. (Jer. 29:11, NIV)
Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. (Heb. 11:1)
“Seeing isn’t believing. Believing is seeing.”
2. Plan to persevere.
This is what the LORD says: "When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my gracious promise to bring you back to this place. (Jer. 29:10, NIV)
Life is not a short dash, it’s a marathon. Take the long view.
Had I been there I may have said in frustration, “Seventy years?! Lord, I’m 53 now! What good is a promise of deliverance in seventy years?”
We’re too used to quantifying our lives in terms of the years between the day we’re born to the day we die. We need to get used to taking a longer, more patient view. Don’t judge God as faithful or unfaithful when He doesn’t meet expectations of immediate blessings
The important part of verse 10 is not as much the first half as second half… “I will come to you and fulfill my gracious promise…”
Actually the first half is important too because God says this captivity has an end date and that encourages hope.
3. Start from where you are, not where you wish you were.
When all seems lost, life isn’t over. Make the most of what is within reach. That’s the message of Jeremiah 29, verses 4-9.
4 This is what the LORD Almighty… says to all those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: 5 "Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. 6 Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there; do not decrease. 7 Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the LORD for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper." 8 …"Do not let the prophets and diviners among you deceive you. Do not listen to the dreams you encourage them to have. 9 They are prophesying lies to you in my name. I have not sent them," declares the LORD.
Don’t be misled by those who sound authoritative but don’t know what they’re talking about. There were “prophets” who discouraged God’s people with hopeless messages saying, “You’ve blown it – for good! There is no hope.” Others of the so called prophets deceived the people with messages of unrealistic hope, playing to their wishful thinking.
God was saying;
Don’t be discouraged by “doom & gloom” people.
Don’t be deceived by “pie in the sky” people.
God was clear; life wasn’t over because of captivity and they shouldn’t wait for life to begin after.
You may not be where you want to be. Your dreams have died. You’ve lost many aspects of life as you knew it – as the Hebrews lost vocations, homes, community, their future.
God’s message is “Don’t sit back in self-pity and your fold arms in a defeated spirit. Don’t neglect to live the life that’s before you, holding out for something better. Get at it and make the most of what is within your reach.”
So far we’ve been working through the passage backward from verse 11. Now skip back down to verse 12.
4. Call your faith out of the silence.
Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. (Jer. 29:12, NIV)
Simply put, in verse 12 God says, “Call! I will listen.” In a moment we’ll see He says in verses 13 & 14, “Seek! I will be found.”
Here’s where we bring faith into the audible reality of words. Next we’ll talk about bringing faith into the tangible reality of works (put faith into action).
What’s the hardest thing about praying? Knowing what to pray? Keeping focus? Finding time? Sticking with it when answers don’t come? Any of these can become excuse. We may feel guilty but don’t change.
If ever in this life we are to live in meaningful and real hope of God’s better future we need more than an occasional panicked, “God help me!” We need more than the self-serving, “Lord, bless me” kind of praying.
We need intentional, focused, consistent conversations with God – the kind where we ask Him more than we tell him.
And it’s worth praying, “God, if you want this part of me that has died to live again, what do I need to do?”
We can pray with the confidence of David. “I am praying to you because I know you will answer, O God. Bend down and listen as I pray. Show me your unfailing love in wonderful ways.” (Psalm 17:6-7, NLT)
Remember; in verse 12 God said, “Call! I will listen.” Bring your faith into the audible reality of words. Now in verses 13 & 14 He says, “Seek! I will be found.” Bring faith into the tangible reality of works.
5. Act on your faith.
You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you," declares the LORD, "and will bring you back from captivity. (Jer. 29:13-14, NIV)
“If you look for me in earnest, you will find me… I will be found by you," says the LORD. "I will end your captivity and restore your fortunes” (NLT).
Set faith in motion.
Sometimes we’re very good at getting busy, but we’re busy pursing goals we’ve chosen without asking God. Yet we expect him to bless our efforts and become disappointed if he doesn’t.
Jesus tells us to pursue first and above all God’s reign in our lives and we’ll find everything we really need.
How are we to go after God? With all our heart as opposed to half-hearted efforts. “Earnestly” as opposed to putting up a spiritual façade.
Where is God to be found? The Bible says He inhabits the praises of his people. So let’s spend time in real worship – alone & w/ others. This is not about a particular style of worship. It’s about being genuine in praise, not fulfilling an obligation or performing an expected religious ritual.
Don’t limit understanding of worship to what we do in this room every Sunday. In some Old Testament passages the words “worship” and “service” can be used interchangeably. So in our worship we can be serving God and our service can be pleasing worship to Him.
Have faith that God desires a great future and act out that faith in worship and work that will revive dead dreams – that will make a mummy dance.
You’re likely familiar with “Footprints In The Sand” by Mary Stevenson (written in1936). There is a new version based on the same idea making the rounds on the internet.
Imagine you and the Lord are walking together. For much of the way, His footprints go along consistently, rarely varying the pace. But your footprints are a disorganized stream of zigzags, starts, stops, circles. Gradually your footprints come more in line with the Lord’s, soon paralleling His consistently. You and Jesus are walking as true friends!
Then an interesting thing happens: your footprints that once etched the sand next to Jesus’ are now walking precisely in His steps. Inside His larger footprints are your smaller ones, you and Jesus are becoming one.
This goes on for many miles, but gradually you notice another change. Your footprints inside his seem to grow larger. Eventually they disappear altogether. There is only one set of footprints. They have become one.
This goes on for a long time, but suddenly the second set of footprints is back. This time it seems even worse! Zigzags all over the place. Stops. Starts. Gashes in the sand. A mess of prints.
You are amazed and shocked. Your dream ends. You pray: ’Lord, I understand the first scene. I was a new Christian; I was just learning. But You walked on through the storm and helped me learn to walk with You.’
’That is correct.’
’And when the smaller footprints were inside of Yours, I was actually learning to walk in Your steps.’
’Very good.. You have understood.’
When the smaller footprints grew and filled in Yours, I suppose I was becoming like You in every way.’
’Precisely.’
’So, Lord, what went wrong? The footprints separated, and it was worse than at first.’
And the Lord answers, with a smile. ’You didn’t know? It was then that we danced!’
”To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven: A time to weep, a time to laugh, a time to mourn, and a time to dance.” (Ecclesiastes 3:1, 4)
