"Say Yes" to Michelle Williams' Christian Soul Jam (with Beyoncé and Kelly to boot!)

They're baaaa-aaaaack!  

Who's back, you ask?

Who?

It's Destiny's Child (divided by three!).

That is, while they're no longer Destiny's Child (though the band still has a website), you'll find Michelle, Kelly, and Queen Bey herself reunited (and it feels so good) in this soulful, African-Latin-grooving, booty-shaking, Christian praise tune written and headlined by Michelle Williams.

It may lack the drama of Solange's recent battle with Jay-Z, but this instance of collaboration over competition is noteworthy for a bunch of reasons.  But first, hit play and enjoy some Christian soul.

When Jesus say yes, nobody can say no.  Amen?

Amen, Michelle!

The song opens with a simple but super-catchy beat that carries it along. After Michelle's initial chorus and verse, which will implant themselves in your brain quicker than an alien probe, somebody else shows up (around 1:20). Who is joining Michelle's catchy Christian street-dancing romp?  

Why, it's...Beyoncé! 

This is awesome for a couple reasons. First off, Beyoncé - the undisputed Queen of Pop these days - gives the world great music, but it's not music that typically talks about her faith (more on this in a minute). So, it's great to see her willing to put herself in a Christian music video and sing about Jesus for a minute. After all, that's how she started singing at all!

And what's even better is this: it's not her video!

This is Michelle Williams' video. And while Michelle pretty obviously can't sing or dance as well as Queen Bey (just listen), Beyoncé rather humbly and very tastefully steps up to take a verse and chorus of her friend's video and - in the last bit - to dance to the side of Michelle. She's not at the center of this little reunion, kids. 

And that's a pretty cool thing for a pop diva to do, and something I'd say is pretty indisputably in line with Christian values. The same goes for Kelly (who shows up with a fantastic finger wag at 2:17), who shows up for the bridge, another chorus, and the final dance sequence.

Now, there will always be haters. 

This comment sums up most of the negativity you'll find on YouTube:

UMblue83 writes, "I'm pretty sure Jesus doesn't say yes to booty shorts, cleavage, voodoo dancing and people who break the commandments and worship Satan! What a farce. Now people can say, "see, Beyoncé and Christians". I got news for you, even the devil can masquerade as an angel of light."

Yeah, yeah, yeah.  Whatever.

If you ask me, a God who populated the earth with people of all kinds, with cultures as beautifully diverse as night and day, would never reject an act of praise that comes in and through one of those cultures. Sure, modesty matters. But there's nothing immodest here. This is a celebration of the beauty of life and the beauty of the human person, sexuality and all; God made it, and God saw that it was good.

So which commandment was broken here?  The eleventh one?  Thou shalt not dance?

People dancing in the streets in praise of God are not voodoo dancing.  They're dancing for God. You think that's impossible? Try Psalm 149:3!  

"Let them praise God's name in dance, make music with tambourine and lyre."

Right there in the Bible, kids.

Or maybe all that stuff about people breaking commandments is about Beyoncé's sexually-charged music and lyrics. You can fight about that, but I have a simple point to make here. While highly sexual, Beyoncé's music comes from the mouth of a married woman, who knows about sex from her husband, Jay-Z.  Is there a commandment forbidding good sex in a marriage? I hope not!

In fact, more often than not, Beyoncé sings pretty modestly about sex. "Crazy in Love" (with her husband, Jay-Z), she tells the boys that "If they like it, then they shoulda put a ring on it." That's Beyoncé's advice to the single ladies. Don't sell out. Hold guys accountable, and embrace the fact that you're worth a ring. That's pretty counter-cultural, if you ask me. And looking back, that's been the story of Beyoncé's career, from Destiny's Child to the present. Sex, yes. Sexiness, yes. But show me a song where Beyoncé sings about sex without a message, and I'll give you a cookie and a gold star.

Even in explicit songs like "Partition," she begins the song by situating herself as "Miss Carter" (her married name), so that when she says, "He calls me peaches" when the sex is really good, she does so as a wife talking about her husband, and as a very famous person who doesn't want the public and the paparazzi witnessing her personal and sexual affairs.

Roll up the partition. Please. 

And if you ask me, it's not our business either. Nor is it our place to decide the integrity of her faith - or anyone else's faith - on the basis of her work. If you look a little deeper, beyond the externals, I think you'll find something else. Something very worth talking about.

After all, Jesus spent his time with those nobody else had time for: lepers, the poor, etc. And we talk about that.  But we don't always translate "the outcast" into concrete terms today, mostly because I think it shakes us the way we want our world. Who are the outcasts? People that have abortions, gay people, unwed mothers, etc. If Jesus were here today, I'm pretty sure they're the ones he'd be with. Think about it.

Maybe we should spend less time deciding who Jesus "say yes" to 

and more time saying yes to others.

Amen?