April 5, 2023 Submitted by Glastonbury Abbey
Once again, as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. first observed in the 1960s, it is midnight in America—a dark time of division and anxiety, with threats of violence looming in the shadows. So when Reverend Otis Moss suddenly heard a noise in the middle of the night, he grabbed a baseball bat to confront the intruder in his home. When he opened the door to his daughter’s room, he found that the source of the noise was his own little girl, dancing. She was simply practicing for her ballet recital.
In that moment, Pastor Moss saw that the real intruder was within him. Caught in a cycle of worry and anger, he had allowed the darkness inside. But seeing his daughter evoked Psalm 30: “You have turned my mourning into dancing.” He set out to write the sermon that became his inspiring and transformative book, “Dancing in the Darkness: Spiritual Lessons for Thriving in Turbulent Times.”
“Dancing in the Darkness” is a life-affirming guide to the practical, political, and spiritual challenges of our day. Drawing on the teachings of Dr. King, Howard Thurman, sacred scripture, southern wisdom, global spiritual traditions, Black culture, and his own personal experiences, Dr. Moss instructs us on how to practice spiritual resistance by combining justice and love. With civil rights advocacy in his DNA, Rev. Dr. Moss built his ministry on community advancement and social justice activism. As Senior Pastor of Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, Dr. Moss has practiced and preached a Black theology that unapologetically calls attention to the problems of mass incarceration, environmental justice, and economic inequality.
Please join the eloquent and estimable Pastor Moss at the Abbey on April 20th — in person! — and learn how to turn our “mourning into dancing.” His book will be available for signing. Refreshments will be served.