Expatriate
islanders agree: America for opportunity, Jamaica for parties.
It
appears that DVD's of the block parties that form a natural feature of Caribbean
nightlife are a hot seller among immigrants on the less-festive streets of
Queens, Brooklyn, and the Bronx. For five bucks at the local bodega, these
exiles can watch for hours as their countrymen dance with abandon to a thumping
reggae base-line and feel, for a moment, at home.
Nor
is this just a nostalgic spectator sport: Jamaicans use the footage to stay in touch with their
culture. They practice new dance moves that have appeared since they left home.
"I watch them and I live them," one man explains. As Norman
Stolzhoff, author of a book on this "dancehall culture," tells the
New York Times' Sarah Maslin, watching "is
a way that these Jamaicans can maintain their identity in New York."
Revelation
5.11-14 is an out-take from a DVD of the eternal party in Heaven. John, from
his exile on Patmos, sees a scene from the home he has never been to and
invites the Church, from our own terrestrial banishment, to watch as well. Granted, the streets are gold and the
ghetto is located in Glory, but the right way to use this passage is the same
way the Jamaican diaspora uses their DVD's: We watch it and live it. It is a
way that we Christians can maintain our identity in the midst of the world.
Like island exiles who one day plan to return, we want to know the latest moves
so we fit in with our family around the throne.
This is really
what the Church's Sunday worship amounts to: A chance to watch and live the
eternal life for which we're headed. Of course it isn't as exciting here as it
will be There; of course we look awkward as we mimic the moves of a dance we
haven't learned yet; of course it seems at times more like a discipline than a
celebration. But we keep it up, because it reminds us of home, and it prepares
us to go there.
Join
the Party!
Doug
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