Divine Comedy
John Ortberg
July 1, 1996
I noticed the other day that the guy who wrote the song "Hokey-Pokey" recently
passed away. Although saddened by his death, I was glad to be reminded of
the song. It was the first song I learned in Sunday school, along with "Climb,
Climb Up Sunshine Mountain." I think that's one of the problems the Sunday
school movement is facing today: no hokey-pokey.
So I thought as a kind of memorial I'd offer an exegetical piece on it. Because
much of what I know about theology, I learned from Hokey-Pokey.
"You put your right foot in."
No surprise here. Some of the literal-minded
among us used to wonder "in what?"; but most children of goodwill
got the general idea.
"You take your right foot out."
Why not? You put it in in the first
place. You give, and then you take. Here we have an almost Johannine dualism
that echoes the classic rhythms of life and death, love and hate, network
and cable.
You share, then you withdraw. You are neither enmeshed nor engaged. No
co-dependents allowed in this game. Here we learn about boundaries. It's
my foot, and if I say "in," then "in" it is, but I can "out" at any
time. (Some redaction critics see here the influence of the so-called
"deutero-Hokey" or "Minirth-Meier" tradition.)
"You put your right foot in."
Here's the element of surprise. Nobody
could have seen this one coming. The right foot was gone, and we had
no reason to hope it should ever be back. But just when it seemed darkest,
there's the right foot—in again. It's the motif of the Prodigal Foot—first
at home (in ); then off to a distant country (out ); then it
"comes to its senses and returns home" (in ). This time we know it's
home to stay.
And so we
"shake it all about."
...
The next phrase is shrouded ...
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