Justin Cannon

Beatitudes Society 2007 Fellow - United Religions Initiative; Beatitudes Society Chapter Member (GTU)

As I was sitting down to write this short bio, I found myself wondering how this would be distinct from my blogs. I already provided an introduction about who I am, what I’m up to, and all that fun stuff on my Be’ats blog. Just moments before writing this I was sorting through in my mind all the times I’ve written little bios, and one came to mind that I wrote back when I was 18 years old. It was for a book of poetry I had hoped to publish titled “Embracing God.” I think every 18 year old poet dreams of becoming as well known as E.E. Cummings (who, in fact, told his French translator that he preferred the capitialized version of his name “may it not be tricksy”) or Maya Angelou. It's funny to look back when that was one of my dreams. Rather than publish that manuscript, I want to share just one poem from that book that I wrote in 2002. Perhaps, more than anything I could say, this poem captures the reason I am pursuing priesthood and even working with the Beatitudes Society:

‘sky dancer’

it is in the painted sky
where God dances bare
calling me into blissful laughter
shouting, "look at me!"
shedding a red glow upon my cheeks
wherein I must join the dance
or be embarrassed to deny such perfect love

Wasn’t it Nietzsche who said, “I will only believe in a God who can dance”? I am a sojourner on this earth who is learning step-by-step how to dance with God. In the Dance of the Garden, he swept over all of Creation declaring this world blessed and holy, a dance we are called to honor in our care for this earth and its creatures. In the Dance of the Incarnation God came to teach us in the ways of perfecting the Dance of Love composed of ‘steps’ that only a Divine dance partner could teach us. This Dance of Love, which Jesus’ embodied wherever he went, clashed with the religious world of his day—challenging bigotry, misogyny, inequality of all kinds, and religiosity closed in upon itself as an end, rather than a means to something greater. So, I am merely one who is following the Lord of the Dance, and His dance has led me here to the prophetic work of The Beatitudes Society.

Love,
Justin R. Cannon

Lyrics to the song "Lord of the Dance" by Engilsh poet and Quaker Sydney Carter:

I danced in the morning when the world was begun,
And I danced in the moon and the stars and the sun,
And I came down from heaven and I danced on the earth,
At Bethlehem I had my birth.

(Refrain)
Dance, then, wherever you may be;
I am the Lord of the Dance, said he.
And I’ll lead you all wherever you may be,
And I’ll lead you all in the dance, said he.

I danced for the scribe and the Pharisee,
But they would not dance and they would not follow me;
I danced for the fishermen, for James and John;
They came to me and the dance went on. (refrain)

I danced on the sabbath when I cured the lame,
The holy people said it was a shame;
They whipped and they stripped and they hung me high;
And they left me there on a cross to die. (refrain)

I danced on a Friday and the sky turned black;
It’s hard to dance with the devil on your back;
They buried my body and they thought I’d gone,
But I am the dance and I still go on. (refrain)

They cut me down and I leapt up high,
I am the life that’ll never, never die;
I’ll live in you if you’ll live in me;
I am the Lord of the Dance, said he. (refrain)

 

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