Thursday August 21, 2003

WHAT ABOUT CLAPPING IN WORSHIP?
A few months ago, I was asked, "Is it appropriate to clap hands during worship?"

To some who read this column, that may seem a strange question. For them, clapping is as regular a part of worship as sleeping through the pastor's message. But for others, such clapping is a foreign notion.

In Bible times, clapping was used in several different ways. It could be used to express regret for one's sins and their consequences (Ezekiel 6:11). It could convey condemnation. In the Old Testament book of Nahum, a time is foretold when an aggressive empire would fall and relieved celebrants would clap.

But in Bible times, clapping was most often used in worship, to express praise for God. "Clap your hands, all you peoples; shout to God with songs of joy!" (Psalm 47:1).

Today, it seems to me that there are three healthy ways for clapping to occur in our worship celebrations.

First: As part of our praise of God, such as when we're singing worship songs.

Second: To thank those who help us, whether through singing or testimony about God's work in their lives or by their service to God, help us to see God more clearly. One Biblical writer, the New Testament preacher Paul, commended people in this way in the letters he wrote to early churches. One example of this can be found in Colossians 4:7-14. I think Paul would have approved of the words of William Arthur Ward: "Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it."

Third: To acknowledge those who walk closely with God. Paul constantly did this in his letters, written to be read during the early church's worship celebrations. (Check out Romans 16:3)

I think that there are a couple of inappropriate ways to use clapping during worship. One is to drain our applause or clapping with music of all meaning through repetitive overuse. Clapping in worship can be as much a habit as a threadbare liturgy or the hollow recitation of the Lord's Prayer or Apostles' Creed.

A more dangerous misuse of clapping in worship is to do so in response to a "performance," thereby not praising God, but feeding people's egos. While it is true that Christian worship is meant to be a performance of praise and devotion for an audience of one, God, it isn't meant to be a Vegas lounge show we put on for each other. When we applaud in this latter vein, we've taken a wrong turn.

Is the risk of worship-time applause such a danger that it should be completely discouraged by churches and their pastors? No, I don't think so. You can't banish benign practices simply because of the risks involved. If risk were reason enough to banish certain practices, churches would also get rid of preaching and teaching and serving because the appreciation accorded those who do such things might puff some people up. Some people's egos will be fed by our clapping, it's true. But God can also be glorified by it.

(This is the latest installment of a column I enjoy writing for a local chain of suburban newspapers.)