I must say I've been so moved by Whitney's funeral today. Makes me remember times when faith felt so transcending and felt like God could be relied on to help us through whatever difficulties come in life.

The power of love and hope in that church this morning was amazing. It's so powerful how these black churches helped black people survive through such terribly painful experiences. How they provided a place to be renewed each week after working menial jobs, poverty, struggle for basic education, discrimination, etc. Those churches produced luminaries in the world (Oprah, Condi Rice, Constance Rice, the Winans, Tyler Perry, Whitney Houston and countless others.) This is what a church should be.

Wishing I had that.

I know what you mean. Funny how Mormons often think that their church experience is the best that religion can offer when the truth is probably the opposite. How many of us used to pity those poor souls who had to attend a church without the fulness of the gospel? They must be missing out on so much happiness! Yeah, right.

So moving, so much compassion, love, understanding, music, warmth,and almost 5 hours long!

It does give you a sense of what we may have missed out on. Is it just me or does it seem like the lds church has been systematically taking all the life and warmth out of church activities and rituals. We were just talking with some missionaries about how parents have to drop their children off at the curb when they enter the MTC. No special ceremony, nothing. Baptisms, funerals, farewells, homecomings - everything seems to be reduced or eliminated. Its almost as if it was a corporation and not a church; more concerned with efficiency and growth than spirituality :)

The only "rituals" where any thought/expense exists are those which have to do with money.

Baptism and

Temple attendance with its useless costumes and on-and-off hokey pokey like a big joke, then you see the same movie and out you go without so much as a cup of tea.

Mass produce a "ritual" and sell it for 10% of your income.

Ana

AGREE.

Mormon culture is Incredibly Shallow/Superficial.

It's like: when you have a problem or a challenge, AND you're in the right group, they'll be nice with you, maybe lend you a hand;

otherwise, just sit thru boring HT / VT & STFU.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/18/2012 04:00PM by guynoirprivateeye.

I really loved that funeral. I have never experienced a black baptist back ground and I could feel that community and love for all. I wish I could be a fly on the wall and watch the get together tonight and see how the friends and family of Whitney express their love. I need to expose my girls to more religions so they will not grow up so narrow minded as I was. My mom left the room and said she didn't deserve to have the flag lowered to half staff. Typical racist TBM. She missed out on a great experience. She thought shopping was more appropriate.

I only saw a part of it and it was lovely. The church who sings is a church who celebrates. And that one can sing. Notice how everyone referred to BIBLE verses and read scripture that had meaning to this time.

And anyone can have this type of experience IF you travel around and investitgate many churches. NOT every church is dull and boring. MY contemporary service at church is great. Lots of current songs you hear on religious radio stations. Just get out there and try many churches and you will find one that gets the heart pumping. True, Black Churches seem to have this down to perfection. But many other churches do similar things -some with large choirs and some with perhaps less of a choir but still the enthusiasm is there. The love today was very evident. I am so glad the family allowed it to be televised.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/18/2012 05:11PM by honestone.

Mormon churches (buildings/rooms): Sterile.

they go out of their way to make it so, Don't they?

I didn't watch the funeral but I find many service much richer than the Mormon type which is boring, businesslike and not spiritual in the laeat IMO

Must be just me, but I find celebrity funeral adulation really annoying. Her untimely death shouldn't have surprised anyone. She was not a role model or national hero. She was an addict.

Leroy the service was about her positive contribution. Just because she had been and perhaps currently was a drug abuser does not take away her postive contribution.

A person can be many things at once. She's clearly not a national treasure to you. I'm fairly certain you don't understand her music. The deeper understanding a person has of music, the more a person appreciates art, the more her life as an artist means. You would have to talk to a serious musician to get a viewpoint of what she meant musically.

Agreed, but addiction is a disease.It may be self inflicted, but it is still a disease. I have several family members who have suffred addiction and it is still a tragedy whatever you think of their choices. There comes a point that they can't control it.Even if you have no sympathy for Whitney, think of those who loved her.

Actually, it was a national event. You witnessed it. You don't understand why it was a national event. I can't help you with that.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/18/2012 08:15PM by thingsithink.

Oh sure I sympathize with the family. But her passing was not a national event that needed to in the news for days and days-tv radio Internet. Nor was her funeral.

Really Leroy because it sure got a lot of viewers for someone who didn't need a national spotlight. Let the viewers decide. The family initially wanted no tv, but the cry of the fans changed their mind and they allowed a single camera in the service.

I was not interested in the non stop coverage as I wasn't really a big fan. Same with Michael Jackson, but I wuppose there was an audience for it. I was glued to the TV when Lennon died though.I guess it depends on your musical taste. Whitney's music wasn't really my type although she certainly had an amazing voice.

The funeral was very moving. I didn't see all of it though.
The religious culture of the black Baptist church is really quite amazing to see. She made an amazing contribution that a lot of people paid tribute to (even while fighting her demons-as we all do.)

It's a loss to the musical world, her many family and friends and fans, and such a waste. Why be hard on her? From whence cometh the vitriol directed at her?

When John Candy died of a heart attack directly associated with his obesity, was there a pile-on? I don't remember that. His drug of choice (colloquialism - choice?? not really) was food. BUT - he was a man, and somehow obesity is more acceptable. I'd never point a finger at him, "see what he did to himself! He deserved it" - no. But I see a lot of that directed at Whitney Houston. It's too bad she couldn't have been saved like Robert Downey was, and of course, eventually, he made the decision to save himself, with the help of others. However, a life with such potential, gone too soon, is a tragedy.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/18/2012 07:38PM by serena.

Unlike Michael Jackson, what I love and hurt about Whitney Houston's story is that her life exemplifies the hopes and pressures of being a human being. We're all kind of lost in this world. It's a wonder and mess for most of us. We walk this earth full of natural gifts and talents and a desire for love and transcendence, and we struggle to regulate ourselves in a world full of loss and pressures and anxieties and temptations that promise to help us feel better. Whitney succumbed to the illusion that drugs would make her anxieties feel better but she seemed to be a person really grounded in love. (Not always the case for some whose addictions are only one in a series of self centered predilections.)

Sometimes its nice to have the media saturated with a human interest story where we can collectively as a nation explore what it means. I think there's great importance in exploring values collectively. (It's about her and not just about her at the same time. Because we all know her, it provides the background to explore the human condition. The complexity of life, the impact of relationships and choices in what we do to cope with life that fascinates us all because we're all in the same fragile life. Her story has many facets but its ultimately about the human condition.

(Unlike Michael Jackson whom most people couldn't relate to because he was such a narcissist, even having self portaits around the house depicting him as Napoleon and other heroes from history.) Whitney's story is more about how we all hope to balance our dreams with reality and the difficulty of getting through this life without making life altering mistakes or being harmed by others that come our way. It's about the wonder and mess that it is to be human.

As Sad as her passing was, as beautiful as her music & performances were,
even More Sadly the addict part will be like Roger Maris' asterick on his baseball record.

If NOTHING ELSE, her passing is a Loud & Clear WARNING of the danger of drugs, isn't it?

no

Of course the danger of drugs and making poor choices will be part of this story if the authorities declare drugs played a role. I would be surprised if they did not. But sometimes people get involved with the wrong person who gets them involved in things they would never have tried before. There is so much sadness in what her two lives were- one full of hope and promise ( and very spiritual ) and one sliding into the ditch -her chauffeur stopping at street corners so she could get drugs. And only she knows what effort she put into recovery. WE don't know. All in all she is loved by many and I for one will never forget the clean lovely Whitney.Her voice in many ways is my favorite all time female voice.

. . . I have always connected to the vibrant, spontaneous, genuine, resonating richness and rhythm of African-American gospel music. There is an honesty and depth of human connection to it that runs deep and that has always drawn me in.

After I left the Mormon Church, I visited a local Black church to enjoy the music of its choir and to watch and feel the energy among the congregants as they immersed themselves in, and expressed themselves through, their music, which serves not only as a vehicle of raw and rhapsodic self expression but also as a means for people to reach out, to bond, to console, to support, to join together and share in powerful, positive and natural ways.

On a personl note, when my own marriage ended, Whitney's soaring and beautifully heartfelt ballad, "I Will Always Love You," stirred me in profound ways that have remained with me to this day.

Her funeral service brought tears to my eyes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9nPf7w7pDI



Edited 15 time(s). Last edit at 02/19/2012 03:11AM by steve benson.

Mormon funerals are cold, unfeeling, and empty.

Regardless of how Whitney lived her life, her funeral was filled with love.

Genuine love for all, despite their weaknesses, is what Mormonism is lacking.

If I were to die tomorrow, and my funeral was in the Mormon church, my life would be inconsequential.

My funeral would be the first discussion. My life and what I contributed wouldn't be mentioned.

Mormons would use my death to promote their sick thinking,until I was dead and buried. Heaven forbid I should be cremated.

I watched some clips online tonight. I longed for the same thing. Music moves me, I love that eveyone feels comfortable shouting out, or witnessing, during the service. There is a comraderie there that is undoubtedly missing from Mormon church.

My husband had a chance to see gladys knight perform for our stake, with her choir a few years ago. She had revamped several of the hymns, and he said he enjoyed hearing them so much. And she herself told the audience that it bothered her some that Mormon hymns were so boring! I couldn't agree more.

Although, I must say, our tongan ward seems to have cornered the market on community feel. They sing with all their hearts and are pretty open with their emotions. Then again, they are whispered abt, with subsequent eyerolls during ward council and other conversations among other wards in the stake. I was privy to several of those occasions. Jealous much, regular mormons? Ugh. I always hated hearing people talk like that.

I went to church in Rarotonga while on vacation. It was a breath of fresh air.

The people were so genuine in the worship and humble attitude. I felt comforted.

When I was 5 or 6 my oldest sister had the album from the Bodygaurd.. I pushed play on her CD player, I heard and listened to.., "I Will Always Love You" It moved me profoundly. I will never forget that moment hearing that... all my senses came alive and I was a changed person from there. I remember the colors the smell..the sounds..like the memory was from yesterday. I was sitting in criss cross apple sauce..the sun was behind the clouds so it created a shadow in the room. hues of blue and the smell of carpet.. I looked through the pictures...Whitney's legs draped over being held in the pictures and I knew true love was out there and love knows no boundaries, race, religion and Whitney was singing about it.

I also love gospel music but get hung up on the religious love..God, praise Jesus part...love is love and to me you should want to do good because deep down that's what you want.

My aunt, last year, died of a lifetime of various addictions. I feel she just couldn't fight and wanted to rest. She was 43. She was a beautiful soul and I love and miss her. Her life, attitude, evolution of her...has changed me for the better and impacted me and I know many others. People came out of the woodwork and wrote many many nice things about her on her fbook wall. People come too late...to the rescue, I have been burdened with that guilt.

Her picture on her fbook is eternally her and me... kayaking on the beautiful Mighty Missouri River. Doing something that made us feel alive. That day was one of the best days together as aunt and niece. laughing and adoring beautiful Montana together...also as things calmed down I filled her in on some of my new views on life, I could talk to her. She was open minded. That day I told her some things about JS that she wasn't aware of-and I had recently found out...just about 4 months into doing my research on the church. I regret that was our only discussion on the topic. She hadn't done research yet..she was like really I didn't know any of that!?!? when I told her. She hadn't been active for maybe over a decade. That was 2 1/2 years ago. I looked up to her and she looked up to me...looking back I wish I could have helped save her and I miss her.

We had a special bond, when I was little she was very nice to me and would invite me over to my gma's house, across the street for dinner parties. My older sister...two years older than me...we went over in matching outfits with matching curled hair. She moved to WA and other places and there were many years I didn't see her.

We both love dogs, are sensitive people, fairly witty--and could laugh back and forth. She was diagnosed with bi-polar disorder...but when I looked at her I saw someone that was raised with a lot of pressure on that looks matter and you must fill this lousy hollow outline of being a Mormon house wife. After she was burnt out of fumes she turned to addiction to cover up the pain. She got her degree in psychology and was a very smart giving person. Married three times and constantly giving of herself. I see it now....all so much more clear. I miss her a lot.


Whitney's funeral was beautiful. I don't know what Whitney's demons were and her reasons for not getting healthy in the end. She had her reasons and her pain. The legacy of her inspired music and talent will be felt for generations, I am sure and what I didn't even know until today...was that she didn't have a blown up pompus ego. That was very refreshing. Her funeral touched me, brought me to tears and I also pondered on my own life, sorrows and triumphs. It made me want to be a better person on the inside and let more love in.

I do miss that spiritual side of religion cause I did feel the spirit inside the walls of the Mormon church but I don't think it had anything to do with being Mormon.

Thair culture is full of color. Everything is full of color and I like that. The Mormie church just seems so dull. The only thing I can think of when i see mormon churches is bieng a child and being trapped by the curtains of the stage or the most beutiful thing about the places was the reflection for a moment of the sun on a floor.

Now my opionion on the half mast flags I dont like how they did that for her as it's so cold and sterile a solders blessing not a singers. Singing for a singer now thats how to show her respect.