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You put your right arm in,
You put your right arm out,
You put your right arm in and you shake it all about.
You do the Hokey Pokey and you turn yourself around,
That's what it's all about.
That’s what it’s all about. Wow!!! Quite a claim to make,
isn’t it? You do the Hokey Pokey and turn yourself around
and…that’s what it’s all about. Such a claim begs
that we ask the question:
Really, what is it all about?
What is it all about? Embedded in that question are all those
other deep inquires into life’s meaning: Who are we? Where
are we going? Why are we here? Really, what is it all about?
These are the questions that humanity has struggled to
answer since the dawn of creation, and these are the questions
that still trouble our world today. Because the truth of the
matter is that we still live in a time when people are
desperately searching for meaning.
What is it all about? That cry is all around us. Can you hear
it? Tune out the traffic. Turn off the TV. Listen. You can
hear it everywhere. You can sense this hunger for meaning
behind the bars of our prisons, in the hallways of our nursing
homes and in our hospital waiting rooms.
“What is it all about?” echoes through the dorm rooms of
our college campuses and the classrooms of our local high
schools. The question (What is it all about?) can be heard in
every spectrum of our society: from the top to the bottom,
from the failures to the famous, from the rich to the poor.
Everywhere, people are desperate to make sense out of their
lives.
So, “What is it all about?” More people than ever
are looking for real answers to this tough question, longing
for some sense of meaning in a world where the Twin Towers
have come down, the market is always up and down, the
situation in the Middle East cannot ever seem to be turned
around, and the struggles of violence, addiction, abuse,
poverty, hunger, peace and justice simply continue to
confound. In a world where people are seeking to escape their
isolation, yearning
to be filled with something other than emptiness, hoping that
some day, some how, it will all make sense, we must wrestle
with the question, “What is it all about?”
Into the midst of all this questioning, this little
children’s song boldly claims to have the answer. Simply,
“You just do the Hokey Pokey and you turn yourself around,
that’s what it’s all about.” Well, there is probably a
little more to it than that…but maybe not too much. While I
am certainly not going to stand up here and tell you that the
Hokey Pokey really is what it’s all about, I do believe that
it has something to teach us. Somehow this little song points
us in the right direction.
You see, while in college, I made my living as a wedding DJ. I
don’t know how wedding dances and receptions go in this neck
of the woods, but in the polka belt of Western Wisconsin there
is this feeling that the moment a marriage is actually
consummated is not with the exchange of rings, the reciting of
the “I do’s” or even after the much-anticipated kissing
of the bride. Instead, the culminating moment in the nuptial
ceremony comes later in the evening as the bride and groom
stand in the middle of the dance floor with all their brothers
and sisters, aunts and uncles, cousins both distant and
familiar, family friends, childhood friends, high school
friends, friends from college, work and church alike and, in
unison, put their left hand in and then put their left hand
out...then their right foot and then their left elbow…until
they have gone through all the motions of shaking and turning
that doing the Hokey Pokey entails.
You see, something happens in that moment. In the midst of all
the fun and laughter, the entire room becomes completely
filled with the joy of the occasion and all of sudden everyone
there—young and old, stranger and friend—are bound
together in the love and fellowship that marriage is meant to
symbolize. So maybe the Hokey Pokey actually can tell us
something about what it’s all about.
For those who are interested in such things, the Hokey Pokey
was written by Detroit native Larry LaPrise and recorded in
the 1950s. It was on the back side of an equally profound
recording: The Bunny Hop. While I do not think that Mr.
LaPrise was trying to make any deep theological statements
with his cute little song, I think that embedded in its simple
rhythms and rudimentary actions, we can discover some things
that are fundamental to both our spiritual journey and our
everyday living.
In order to help us make that connection, let us turn to our
text for this evening. In doing so, we find that Jesus also
encountered a world that was crying out for meaning. His world
was also one of great hardship and isolation. Life was hard
for people living with the political, social and economic
uncertainty of Roman occupation. It, too, was a world full of
people looking for a new meaning for their lives. So our story
from Matthew’s gospel opens with a lawyer, an expert in
things legal, who comes to Jesus with a question. He asks:
“Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law? You,
who claim to speak with some sort of heavenly authority, tell
us then, what is it that we are supposed to do? How are we
supposed to live? What is the secret to this life, anyhow?”
In other words, this person comes to Jesus asking: What is
it all about?
Jesus answers this seeker by saying: “Love the Lord your God
with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your
mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the
second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law
and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” So there
we have it. Love God and love your neighbor. That’s what
it’s all about.
So you mean to tell us, Jesus, that it’s not all the exotic
exercise programs, strange diets, and food supplements that
promise health and long life? One year it was juiced raw
vegetables, another year enzymes, another wheat grass, and
what about that blue-green algae that was going to cure all
our ills? And you mean to tell us that in the midst of all the
management gurus promising to help us win friends and
influence people, compacting our lives into the One Minute
Manager, you only give us two things, when Stephen Covey
clearly informs us that there are at least seven habits to
becoming highly effective people?
Again Jesus tells us: “You want to know what it is all
about? Love God with all your heart, all your soul and with
all your mind. And love your neighbor as yourself. That’s
what it’s all about.” Simple enough, right? The more
we give ourselves to God, the more we are able to give
ourselves to one another.
So there you have it. Simple as that. Love God and love your
neighbor. It sounds so easy, doesn’t it? Only it’s not
that easy, is it? To love God with our whole selves, heart,
mind and soul, is so much more complicated than it seems. If
we were honest with ourselves, we would have to admit that our
attempts to be in relationship with God and with one another
are more like the Hokey Pokey than we would like to admit.
The Hokey Pokey describes the way we approach God and one
another pretty well, doesn’t it? We put a little of this in,
a little of ourselves there, invest a bit in a relationship, a
job, a lifestyle, an institution such as the church. And we
shake it all about and hope that our “in and then out”
relationship with God and with one another will give us some
kind of answer, some kind of benefit.
For example, I put my right arm in… I wear my watch on that
arm. Time—that is one of those things I am always trying to
give over to God and always trying to make available to the
people I love and who love me. You know what I mean, more time
with what really matters: time for prayer, time for study,
time for friends and family, time for service to God’s
church and people. But it’s hard to do that in our world.
I’ve got places to go and people to see, things I want to
do, things I want to accomplish, always something pulling me
back from those things I know God is calling me to. And before
you know it I find I have pulled my right arm out. It is so
easy to do.
How about the left arm? I put my left arm in…that’s my
wallet hand. My finances, my resources, my talents…I
struggle to fully turn them over to God. I put my wallet in
and then I pull my wallet out. In and out…always fearing
that I won’t have enough to make it through. I had better
just hold a little extra back, you know, in case of a rainy
day. You can’t be too cautious these days. The Hokey Pokey
of finances is something I know how to do all too well. We
also do it with our hands, head, feet, heart, mind and soul.
Too often for humanity, the “in and out” relationship of
trusting God is what it’s all about.
Lest we think that the dilemma of spiritual Hokey Pokey is
only a problem of our contemporary society, this type of
“in, out and back in” relationship with God has beset
humanity since the dawn of creation. In the garden, Adam and
Eve were definitely living the good life. They were given the
opportunity to live in harmony with God, in the full
relationship with their Creator, heart, soul and mind. But
then came that little episode with the apple. What could it
hurt, right? Just
this one little time. We will just do it real quick. God
won’t even notice. Well, we all know how that one turned
out. But remember, God continued to use this first family to
bring about the human community.
Then there was David. God’s beloved. The righteous king
himself. David, too, understood what it meant to trust God,
heart, soul and mind. I mean, you have to if you’re going to
face the great Philistine warrior Goliath armed with only a
stone and your faith. When David gave himself to God, trusted
Him with his whole being, it was a partnership of
indescribable substance. But that moment with Bathsheba—well,
let’s just say that was not David at his best. David, too,
had an “in/out” relationship with God and yet we credit
much of our Psalms—those beautiful prayers, poems and songs
of praise—to the Hokey-Pokey-dancing King of Israel.
And what about Peter, the great disciple of Jesus? The Rock.
The one to whom the Lord gave the keys to Kingdom. Old Peter:
now there’s someone who got it. When everybody else was
trying to figure out who this Jesus character was, it was
Peter who first declared: “You are the Christ.” Wow! What
a relationship Peter must have had with Jesus. Heart, soul and
mind, all in tune with the Word made flesh. Now that’s what
it’s all about. And when all that talk about betrayal was
going on, Peter said: “Not me, Lord. You can count on me,
Lord. Don’t worry, I’ve got your back.” Surely Peter was
no spiritual “Hokey Pokey-er.” Oh yeah, there were those
moments after Jesus’ arrest. What happened when the chips
were down and his back was against the wall? Three times Peter
denied Christ. The Rock himself, the disciples’ disciple,
was no stranger to the Hokey Pokey, either. And yet the risen
Christ used Peter’s leadership to build the early church.
That’s the thing about the Hokey Pokey. Even after we have
pulled ourselves out—blown it, fallen down, screwed up—God
always gives us another chance to put ourselves back in, back
into right relationship. In “God talk,” we call this part
of the Hokey Pokey Amazing Grace, how sweet it sounds.
You see, the real truth embedded in the Hokey Pokey comes at
the end of the song. The Hokey Pokey culminates not with just
our hand or foot or elbow in, but the song comes to its
energetic climax when eventually you put your whole self
in—just like our spiritual journey. After years of
giving God this part of ourselves and then pulling it back
out—in and out with our careers, goals, ambitions, dreams,
plans, money, relationships, marriages, time, talents—in and
out and back in again—eventually there comes a time in our
lives when we have to just give it all over to God, to trust
God with all of our heart, all of our soul and all of our
mind. Where the Hokey Pokey gets it right is that when it
comes to God, eventually we have to put our whole selves in.
I have come to believe that there are times in our lives when,
despite all of the “Hokey Pokeying” we do, all we can do
is give it all to God, trusting that somehow or some way it
will be all right and God will, in fact, bring us through. For
those of you who have been there—when all you could do was
give it all over to God—you know what I am talking about.
For those of you who are not quite sure that life has brought
you to the point of having to simply put your whole self in,
trusting that God’s grace will be sufficient, that day will
come.
It might come when the sleepless nights, coupled with the fear
of tomorrow, become a burden too heavy to carry. It may be
when you can no longer shoulder an emptiness that has been
there since childhood. For others, that day comes after the
divorce or at the start of retirement. That day might come
when you and your partner stare down at that tiny baby you
have brought into the world and together you wonder how on
earth you are ever going to take care of this precious child.
Maybe that day will come after the doctor’s diagnosis or at
the cemetery. Or maybe the day you realize that you started
drinking or using again will be the day you have little choice
but to put your whole self in. If there are any here tonight
so weighed down by life’s struggles, if you find yourself
endlessly trying to figure out what it’s all about, then
today’s message is one of Good News for you. Our search for
meaning, our endless quest to find out what it’s all about,
eventually brings each of us to God. And once there, we find
that all we can do is put our whole selves in. And once
there—with our whole self in—we no longer hear that
nagging question, What’s it all about? Instead we
hear Jesus whisper: “By grace you have been saved in faith
and lo, I am with you always, even until the end of the
age.”
One more thing about the Hokey Pokey. Once you put your whole
self in, there’s that turning around business. Funny what
happens. As I turn around, I see you and you and you and you.
Funny thing. The more of ourselves we give to God, the
more we discover that it’s not just about us.
A man asks Jesus: “Teacher, which is the great commandment
in the law?” Jesus replies: “Love God and love your
neighbor.” That, my friends, is what it’s all about.
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