![\"AWAKE_ADVENT_4\"](\"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/AWAKE_ADVENT_4-214x300.jpg\")
<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
2 Samuel 6:12-19<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n To Ponder: \u00a0 I Shall Dance as David Danced<\/strong><\/span> The Old Testament rituals of moving the ark and the expectations of Hebrew royalty, can seem strange. I am again a foreigner watching others praise and worship in the Lord. My eyes seeing but my heart not comprehending: I\u2019m part judgmental and part jealous \u2013 longing to join in. To let go and just be unselfconsciously joyous from head to toe.<\/p>\n Prayer for the day:<\/strong><\/span> ~ Gimbiya Kettering, Intercultural Ministries Coordinator Congregational Life Ministries of the Church of the Brethren is offering these simple prayers and questions in connection to this year’s Advent Devotional <\/strong><\/span>written by Sandy Bosserman,\u00a0a former district executive and ordained minister in the Church of the Brethren. (Available from\u00a0Brethren Press<\/a><\/span>\u00a0<\/strong>in print and E-Book formats). Join us as we look and listen for the coming of the Word through the reading of scripture, Sandy’s reflections, times of prayer, and conversations on t<\/em>his\u00a0<\/em>blog.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 2 Samuel 6:12-19 To Ponder: \u00a0 I Shall Dance as David Danced One of my earliest memories of church in Nairobi, where I grew up, was singing everyone in the congregation singing the praise and worship song \u201cDance as David Danced\u201d. It was the \u201cyouth service\u201d which was known for a lively music group \u2013<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[54,301,304,493,530,777,1003,1235],"class_list":["post-3350","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-devotional","tag-advent","tag-dance","tag-david","tag-gimbiya","tag-great-multitude","tag-music","tag-rhythm","tag-worship"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/blogtest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3350","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/blogtest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/blogtest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/blogtest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/blogtest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3350"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/blogtest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3350\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/blogtest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3350"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/blogtest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3350"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/blogtest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3350"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nOne of my earliest memories of church in Nairobi, where I grew up, was singing everyone in the congregation singing the praise and worship song \u201cDance as David Danced\u201d. It was the \u201cyouth service\u201d which was known for a lively music group \u2013 guitars, bass, western drums, African drums. And if that weren\u2019t enough, there were three women who regularly sat in the row in front of us who brought their own percussion instruments \u2013 tambourines, shekeres<\/em>, and sistrums<\/em>. They did not just shake their instruments, they shook their whole selves \u2013from the tops of their heads to their feet. Being a shy, uncoordinated child I was completely mesmerized by their extravagantly printed and embroidered dresses, their flamboyant hand motions,![\"Shekere\"](\"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Shekere-300x204.jpg\")
and way all their hips moved in unison. I had never seen anything like it in church in America. It was too much and I wanted to look away. It was not enough and I wanted to join in. In the next decade, it would become my normal church experience but at that moment I was an outsider looking in.<\/p>\n
\nOh God of Dance and Music,
\nInvite me to join your song. Teach me Your rhythm.
\nMay my heart, ears, and eyes recognize the joy from every nation, every tribe, and every language as we praise the Lord. I pray that I may join in that Great Multitude.
\nAmen.<\/em><\/p>\n
\nSave the Date:<\/strong> May 1-3 for \u201cAll God\u2019s People Say Amen\u201d<\/em><\/strong> Intercultural\u00a0 Retreat in ANE.<\/span><\/span>
\n<\/em><\/p>\n