and I gaze upon the vastly expressionless congregation.
And I wonder,
"Do we believe what we're singing?
Do we really believe those words?"
We know the words quite well,
"We stand and lift up our hands,
for the joy of the lord is our strength."
As a matter of fact, the words are so familiarthey have become almost...well...too familiar.
Sadly, they don't seem to inspire us anymore.
I count on two fingers the number of raised hands,
and they both belong to the same soul in the back.
In fact, most hands are tucked tightly into warm pockets,
or folded across sunken chests.
But they definitely aren't raised to the One who is the source of their joy.
I wonder what all the unraised hands are doing,
or what gadget they are manipulating.
And those faces, what are those?
Are they angry?
Hurt?
Upset about something?
Why are they somewhere else,
on something else?
Could they be on Someone else?
They definitely don't appear to be fixed on the One who strengthens.
If they are, I'm not too convinced.
Well, there is that hand-raiser in the back,
and that lady over in the corner with a warm smile.
I think they must believe the words.
But...
"Why am I gazing upon them?
Couldn't my mind be one something else?
on Someone else?"
For whom am I playing these drums, anyway?
I am Aychurch, USA.
Greetings, long time no comment :-) I read nearly everything you post, but don't always have time to respond.
ReplyDeleteEngagement vs. emotionalism is the fine line that Christians walk when it comes to the church service.
Too much focus on emotions can turn faith inward on itself, and it ends up being more about believing in your faith than believing in your Lord. It's a double-edged sword, though, because a church certainly desires engagement from attendees because that means they are growing and learning. The challenge is to do so without overdoing the emotions (while not stamping out emotional responses altogether).
My congregation is very traditional; we have hymns and liturgy, and while we don't sing the same hymns week and in and week out (we probably sing about 180-200 different hymns every year, and for the most part we sing the same hymns from year to year with a bit of variation). It avoids the problem of 'too much of a good thing' while bringing them up regularly enough for people to know and be able to sing them well, and hopefully focus on the words they're singing. We don't have any hand raising in our congregation, not because we don't believe the Holy Spirit is present and working in the service (he most certainly is!), but rather because we tend use different 'body-language' in response to God's gifts. We stand and sit for certain things, bow and kneel for others, fold our hands, make the sign of the cross (even though we aren't Roman Catholic :-) ), etc.. It's a different kind of training of the body. People don't shout 'amen!' at random times, either; but there is a lot of congregational participation and involvement. I think Lutherans tend to be much more reserved in the outward display, even among other Lutherans, than many other religions. Not sure if that's the northern-European heritage or just the kind of people that are drawn to our churches.
At any rate...none of that is to disagree with what you're saying; your post just got me thinking. Thanks! God bless you, keep you, and protect you in your important work, brother!
Rev. Jon! Good to hear from you again!
DeleteI couldn't agree with you more regarding the fine line between worshipful worship and emotion-driven worship. Believe you me, I've been part of "that" church that is over-the-edge in their emotionalim. But I've also been part of the other extreme -- dead worship. I didn't care much for either one...but at least the "emotional" ones put some effort into it.
I even appreciate the various traditions and their respective worship styles. There's a time for dancing, and there's a time for quiet reflection. I honestly get that. We're all wired differently.
But what I don't get is when someone can attend an athletic event and show more energy and enthusiasm for their preferred sports team, yet show so very little for their Savior. And many will claim, "Well, I just worship differently than you do." Ok, I get that. But are folded hands, a frown, and sour-lemon-sucking their preferred modicum for worship?
It is ironic that we don't consider die-hard sports fans over-emotional. Admittedly, they're certainly over-the-top crazy when their fan-hood leads to assaulting or killing another fan from the rival team. But we often lean toward considering "excited" worshipers as over-emotional.
My concern is not even the style of music. Some of my greatest times of worship were at the Together 4 the Gospel conferences. Nothing but hymns, a piano, and thousands of men. Glorious worship!
Finally, the last stanza in my post points fingers at myself, too. So I am not aiming to sit in the seat of judgment on others. I'm simply reflecting on my own -- and our -- frequently mind-and-body stagnant "worship".
I agree with your sentiment, that worship is different. I'd just wonder if it matters much to us.