WomenInSpiritualExpression.com

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

I had a great time bringing in the New Year!  My new church home, Christian Mission of Panama rented a ballroom for the night.  After a short service which lasted a bit past midnight; we adjourned to the ballroom and it was party central till SIX AM! Rofl! 

There we had a buffet style dinner; we ate and drank (non alcoholic of course) while listening to music provided by a Christian DJ.  The Christian DJ and the two guest singers were very good.  One sang traditional style praise music and the guests showed their appreciation by crowding the small dance floor area with dancing.  The other younger brother rocked da’ house and had nearly everybody up including the older adults.  I’m sorry US ministries…we could learn something about how to give a ministry event where both the very young and old come together and have a great time dancing in the name of the LORD!  

One thing I have noticed at the few events I have attended is that the children are permitted to be children.  The bible phrase, “suffer the little children to come unto me,” has become clearer to me here.  The Panamanian people are much more patient with allowing children to be children and I believe that because of this, most of the children are obedient and uninhibited when taking part in church service events.  Of course, as in anything, there are a few exceptions. 

While sitting back watching the people dance, I remember feeling like I had seen this before.  There was a sea of smiling faces and rhythmic movement.  The songs were words of praise to God for all his benefits.  Most, I did not understand due to my limited Spanish but I did catch phrases that were clear to me.  My first thought was, “I like this.”  It also brought to mind Maya Angelou’s ‘Singin’ and swingin’ and making merry like Christmas.  

I realized I had not seen but read about a similar scene.  In Exodus 15:19-21, it says the people of Israel stood on dry land in the middle of the sea and watched the waters overcome Pharaoh’s army.  The bible says Aaron’s sister, Miriam took up a timbrel (tambourine) and along with the other women, and they began to dance around the camp as she sang praises to God.  There is no scripture following saying God was displeased with their actions. 

Psalm 22:3 quotes David stating with confidence that God “inhabits the praises Israel.”  That means he LIVES in our praises.  David was confident of this because he was known to break out in a praise song and ‘bust a praise move’.  Nowhere in the scripture does God rebuke him for it.

In fact, 2 Samuel 6:13-17;20-23 reveals David was out in the street dancing so hard that his wife Michal, Saul’s daughter, was embarrassed and disgusted with his dancing.  The bible goes on to say Michal confronted David stating as king, he shouldn’t be out there disrobing in front of the slaves of the servants and dancing like any other vulgar lowlife.. (Paraphrased)

David’s response, “I was dancing before the Lord.  I know who appointed me King and it wasn’t your father Saul or anyone else.”  David made it clear that he would not stop praising God in dance.  He went on to say, “I will dance before the Lord.  I’ll become even more undignified than this!”  Of course, one of my favorite songs is Undignified Praise by Steven Hurd. 

David loved dancing before the Lord so much that he said he would dance so hard he would “humiliate” himself in his own eyes.  Now, that’s a passion for praising and dancing!

I don’t know when some of us began to monitor our praise for the Lord.  I don’t know why we have come to a place in modern times to believe that there is such a thing as ‘too much or too far’ when it comes to praising God.  I am not talking about lunacy or those with mental issues.  I am talking about we who call ourselves ‘normal’ who have become so dignified that we hold ourselves in reserve.  Are we beginning to forget who we serve?  Also, I am not talking about disorder or disruption in the church.  I believe in decency and order. 

In short, I am saying it was refreshing to be part of a community that has no reservations about enjoying, praising and dancing before the Lord.  Oh, and for the record, I was learning the Merengue, a dance the music director told me originated in the Dominican Republic.

If you are a WISE woman or want to become one, please sign up to receive updates by RSS or your Email inbox and leave your comments. Please keep your comments valid to the posts.  You can also reach me at onewizeone@yahoo.com. I will reply to you.  If you have a blog leave a linkback so others can visit your site as well. 

Tags: Dominican Republic, Maya Angelou, Merengue, New Year Church Banquet in Panama, Praise Dancing, Singin' and Swingin' and making merry like Christmas, Steven Hurd, Undignified Praise

Recently, I asked WISE subscribers to review the movie Precious because I am out of the country and unable to see it.  I received, in my opinion, an excellent review and observation from Sirvasha.  This is the kind of dialog, I have been requesting from WISE members, so, I decided to take it out of the Comments for Precious and post it here. 

The only editing I did on this post was to adapt it to the site for reading.  Also, I removed her email address for her privacy.  No other changes have been made.

I thank Sirvasha for this thoughtful insight and taking the time to write the following review:

Precious was released this past Friday in Pittsburgh and I took the first oppurtunity to see it this weekend. My first comment and most important on this topic is PLEASE read the book first. I believe it is called either Precious with the movie version cover or Push by Saphire with a red and black cover. This movie does the book no justice.

With that being said the movie version is a moving tale of a young girl overcoming obstacles of physical and sexual abuse in her own home. Clairese “Precious” Jones is 12 year old illiterate pre teen that has been raped and inpregnated by her own father not once but twice. She is also forced to suffer through various sexual assaults at the hands of her mother played in the movie by comedian Mo’Nique.

The movie does not portray the severity of the sexual assaults for obvious reasons. Im sure repeated scenes of this would be far too graphic however it never once lets the viewer know that the mother is also responsible as described in the novel. I felt that this was a very important detail omitted from the movie. The movie focuses more on the mental, verbal, and physical abuse that Precious is subjected to at the hands of her mother.

I must also mention that the language in this film is harsh at the very least. There is LOTS of swearing and not the harmless swear words. The cursing in this movie is very intense and it allows you to feel the pure hatred and disgust that Precious’s mother has toward her.

In an effort not to tell the entire movie I will briefly sum up the rest by saying the Precious works very hard in an alternative education program to gain literacy and break the cycle of abuse with regards to her own children. She vows to raise them in the loving safe enviornment that she was never fortunate enough to experience. This is a film with emotions ranging from a chuckle to tears. Having read the novel prior to seeing the film and already knowing the sequence of events I found myself needing a Kleenex to wipe the tears from my face. Not a few tears ladies and gentlemen I was actually crying. That is how powerful and believable the character were.

However, as I mentioned earlier….I would not advise running out and seeing this film without taking time to read the novel. It is a short easy read that can be completed in 2-3 days. Yoiu will get more of a feel for what Precious is actually going through, it will make you feel as if you know her classmates and teacher better, and it will also give you a sense of how much progress she is making with her reading and writing as the book contains her journal entries.

I would recommend this film as I have said as a supplement to the book.

Thanks again, Sirvasha.  I will definitely read the book first.  Hopefully, the DVD will be out in a few onths and I can watch it at that time.  That being said…who’s offering to send me a copy of Push?

From Precious - The Movie, 2009/11/22

If you would like to contact Sirvasha, send me an email and I will forward it on to her: onewizeone@yahoo.com

If you are a WISE woman or want to become one, please sign up to receive updates by RSS or your Email inbox and leave your comments. Please keep your comments valid to the posts.  You can also reach me at onewizeone@yahoo.com. I will reply to you.  If you have a blog leave a linkback so others can visit your site as well. 

Tags: Push, Review of Precious, the Movie, the Novel, WISE Member Review