My first dance

Two weeks ago my friend from church told me she had a question to ask me, but before she did, she cautioned me to think about it first before I gave her the answer. She and the leader of the dance ministry wanted to know if I would be willing to be a part of a dance on the Sunday when our Young Adults class was in charge of the Sunday morning service. My immediate reaction was, "Why would you ask me?" I had never danced before, and could not fathom why they would think to ask me to be a part. She explained that they wanted to get some members of the Young Adults class to dance, instead of just those who are on the dance team. She also told me that she had observed me during worship so she knew I had rhythm LOL. I enquired about the practise sessions, and once I worked out that I could make it to the majority of them, I agreed.

Some of these dedicated ladies were at practise almost
every day last week

The practise sessions were about more than just learning the dance moves. Kassika ensured that we spent time in prayer before each session, and we prayed about the message of the dance, and it's application to our lives, as well as for the Word that was to be ministered on Sunday. One evening we spent time in worship and meditated on scripture before we started. Another evening we spent time praying for each other's personal requests. Different persons brought refreshments to share with everyone else, since most persons were coming to rehearsals straight from work. By the end of the week, we felt bonded as sisters in the Lord, and when it was all over, we were suffering from some serious tabanca as we were no longer meeting regularly.

Working with these ladies was such a blessing

The theme for the service on Sunday was "Finding yourself through service" so the songs chosen for us to dance to were "Servant's Prayer" and "I want to be more than an ordinary servant". The first song spoke of a desire to serve God daily and worship Him with our lives. The second one invites God to search our lives and remove any sin there. As we prepared the dance, we prayed that persons would not focus on us as dancers, but on the lyrics as we danced. Based on the feedback afterwards, this is exactly what happened. After church people told us that they received the message loud and clear, and that it was a powerful dance. I taught Junior Church that Sunday, and when I asked the children what it meant to crucify the flesh, a 7 year old boy said, you have to ask Jesus to take out the sin from your life like what they did in the dance. Talk about message received!

Using sign language as part of the dance

Being a part of the dance team was also a blessing to the dancers. One member said that the experience was priceless; that she was impacted and humbled, and has deepened her commitment to service. She was tremendously helped by the love, passion and caring shown to her. Another member said she had felt the need to try different avenues of service to find her own way, and the experience really opened her eyes and heart to get out of the restricted shell she had always been in and get to know people and do her part as God's servant. She thanked the team for helping her find a passion she did not know existed.

Illustrating how God is with us always, how he shelters us,
and helps us when weare sad and lonely

For me, it was an opportunity for me to step out of my comfort zone and do something I had never done before. I always admired dancers, but never had the opportunity to try it out when I was younger. By the time I started attending a church with a dance ministry, I felt that it was too late to start so I was really grateful for the privilege of dancing with these ladies. I also admired Kassika's leadership style - she lead with a spirit of humility, being willing to receive suggestions from the rest of the team, patiently teaching us all the steps she had choreographed, gently correcting where we went wrong and working assiduously until the wee hours of the morning to ensure that all the props were prepared in time.

Young Adults Sunday Dance Team

I was tremendously blessed to minister in this new way, and I look forward to more new things that God will take me into in the coming year.