Economy Jackson - Kumbaya

Topic: Movement - Liturgical Dance
Liturgical dance, as mentioned in the post on 11 November 2018, was used as part of a religious ritual or to explicate scripture. The girls in Heimerdingen, discussed in the post for 15 November 2018, were examples of the ceremonial use of movement. Economy Jackson used "Kumbaya" to illuminate the meaning of Genesis 21:1, which she paraphrased as "now the Lord with gracious to Sarah and as he had said and the Lord did with Sarah what he had promised." [1]

The African-American woman wore a white, wide-legged jumpsuit disguised as a dress with a royal-blue sash that reached diagonally from her right shoulder to her left hip. As the video began, she was speaking at a floor microphone about Sarah’s feelings seeing the child her husband had fathered with her handmaiden. [2]

While commentators emphasized it was God who initiated contact with Sarah, Jackson suggested a "modern-day Sarah" would cry out to the Lord, who would then respond. Thus, she replaced the Calvinist view that God acted as God chose, [3] oblivious to the actions of humans, with a Lord rooted in Ring Shouts who would respond to human supplication.

Jackson used the recording by Kurt Carr that was discussed in the post for 26 August 2017. During the instrumental introduction, she bent her knees and snapped her fingers. She then started stepping to the diagonals, and twisting her body while she stepped. Her arms moved up and down from the elbows. At this point, many of her movements were borrowed from secular dance.

When Carr’s female backup singers began repeating "kumbaya," she raised both arms from the elbows and looked skyward. Carr sang the phrase "somebody needs you" and Jackson returned to her introductory movements, but with more emphasis. When he said "somebody’s praying" she placed her palms together, but returned to her dance when the chorus repeated his line.

The backup singers marked the transition by repeating "oh Lord." Jackson picked up two flags of filmy white attached to poles that had been resting on the podium. Sometimes she waved or twirled one scarf at a time, sometimes both.

When Carr sang, "we need a blessing" and the group repeated "we need a miracle," Jackson moved forward with the flags in both hands. She moved them more energetically while raising them high on one side at a time. As they group repeated "Oh Lord," she placed them in one hand and gestured with the other.

The denouement began with music that, on the video, was reduced to drums. She did three steps to the left, then to the right, with occasional turns. When the women reentered singing "shower down on me," Jackson knelt on the floor like a modern dancer. Sometimes she contracted her stomach muscles to move from place to place. Finally, she dropped the flags to use her arms in supplication. She stood at the end.

Jackson performed in a conference room in the Vinings Worshop Center in Smyrna, Georgia. She was active there as early as 2011 when she prayed a blessing. [4] Her son killed himself in June 2012, [5] and she posted her first dance video in August 4013 to honor him. [6] "Kumbaya" was the second movement video she uploaded to YouTube.

She never mentioned why she turned to dance. Psalm 30 had said: "Thou hast turned for me my mourning into dancing: thou hast put off my sackcloth, and girded me with gladness." [7] Years later she did write:

"Today I can say my heart is filled with JOY. Not because my son is gone But because God has sustained me over the 6 years. I have had times grief & unbearable pain. But God, He said He would never leave us or forsake us. So today, I celebrate the life of my son Edward Jay Jackson, III. The Joy is because I know my child is with God so therefore he lives. The Joy because his legacy still lives. Many have have told me that because of Jay they push harder to be successful. The Joy because in moments when I feel like crawling under a rock, the Holy Spirit comes in and lifts every burden. The Joy because Jesus Christ died for my sins & He is my personal Savior. The Joy because, Nehemiah 8:10..... the JOY of the LORD is MY STRENGTH!" [8]

Performers
Dance Soloist: Economy Jackson
Accompaniment: Kurt Carr’s recording of "Kumbaya"

Credits
None given

Notes on Audience
They applauded at the end.

Audience Perceptions
One woman complained about another video by Jackson:

"Dance ministry is not something you do because you like to dance; instead it a true calling. Your movements are far too worldly for praise dance. We are all meant to dance for the Lord, but we are not all called to be dance ministers. I hope my comments are not hurtful; that is not my intention, but I’m a dance minister and I would not dare try to preach because that is not my calling, Rev. Jackson, and perhaps you should think about what you are doing here also. God bless you and your praise unto the Lord." [9]

Elsewhere on YouTube, the woman mentioned a video she liked. The dancer wore pointe shoes and liturgical dresss with her hair pulled back in a bun. She began with modern dance moves while lying on the floor. [10]

Notes on Performers
Economy McGee was raised in Englewood, New Jersey, where she graduated from high school in 1982. [11] She earned a bachelors degree in 1987 from New York Institute of Technology. From there, her biography was sketchy until she posted a resume on LinkedIn that began with the jobs she held in Atlanta beginning in 2000. [12]

She may have met and married Edward Jackson in New York or in Atlanta. His father was from Savannah, but had moved to Waterbury, Connecticut, where he founded the Ingathering Pentecostal Temple. [13] Their son was born in 1999. The video he posted of their son’s life included a number of baby pictures that included her. [14] They held the funeral at the Chapel of Christian Love Missionary Baptist Church in Atlanta. [15]

The Vinings Worship Center where Jackson danced was founded by Parett Smith as "a multi-cultural house of worship that allows the Holy Spirit to flow freely." [16] Smith was listed as Secretary when Jackson registered The Refreshing Center in 2015. [17] She began the ministry in 2013, after her son died, but before she posted videos to YouTube. Jackson wrote then:

"If you are available, I invite you to be my guest. I will dance and share the vision of this ministry. I also ask for your prayers that God continues to strengthen me on my journey." [18]

Availability
YouTube: uploaded by Refreshing Center on 20 January 2014.

End Notes
1. YouTube notes. This was closest to the International Standard Version translation: "The LORD came to Sarah, just as he had said, and the LORD did for Sarah what he had promised." ("Genesis 21:1." Bible Hub website.)

2. Abraham had fathered Ismail with Hagar.

3. For example, David Guzik said that the Lord was fulfilling a promise he had made 25-years before. He added "The promise of a son was not fulfilled because Abraham was perfect in his obedience, but because God was faithful to His Word." He concluded "Some promises of God are conditional and depend on something we must do. Other promises of God are unconditional, and God will fulfill them not because of what we do, but because of who He is." ("Genesis 21 – The Birth of Isaac." Enduring Word website.)

4. "Vinings Worship Center Offering Blessing Declaration for 2011." Uploaded by Harriet Bradley on 1 January 2011.

5. Isabelle Taft. "Jackson’s Promising Life, Sudden Death Draw Hundreds to Grant Park Memorial Service." The Sountherner Online website. 7 July 2012. Taft was in his graduating class.

6. Economy Jackson. "Greater Is Coming." Uploaded to YouTube by The Refreshing Center on 15 August 2013.

7. Psalm 30:11. King James version of The Bible.
8. Economy McGee Jackson. Facebook. 23 June 2018.

9. Merdis Hill. Comment posted 2016 to YouTube video by Economy Jackson. "Grace of God." Uploaded by The Refreshing Center on 27 August 2015.

10. Jocelyn Renee Lamkin. "I Surrender All." Uploaded to YouTube by GWC INTENSITY on 29 March 2007.

11. "About Economy McGee Jackson." Facebook.
12. "Economy Jackson." LinkedIn.

13. "Bishop Edward Jackson Sr. Founded Church; NAACP Waterbury Chapter President." [Waterbury, Connecticut] Republican-American. 10 November 2010.

14. "Thoughts of My Son." Uploaded to YouTube by Ed Jackson on 24 August 2012.
15. Obituary for Edward Jackson III. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. 29 June 2012.
16. "Vinings Worship Center." Victory 91.5 Directory website.
17. "Economy F. Jackson - Atlanta." Corporates Wiki website. "F" stood for Fitzgerald.
18. "The Refreshing Center." Wordpress website. 15 May 2013.