Those Inexpressive Assemblies

One of the saddest things I ever saw in a worship service was an elder's wife with her hands raised in praise during a song. Only her hands weren't raised, they were held closely to her body in front of her so that no one could see her expression. We might say, "Wasn't that humble and unintrusive of her." Or we might say, "What has gone so wrong that raising our hands to the Lord has become outlawed?" In the previous post (see the comments as well...excellent comments!) there was a recognition that at times we have boring assemblies. One of the things that several readers pointed to was the prohibition on physical expressions of praise. Mentioned specifically were the raising of hands, and saying 'Praise the Lord' out loud. I would add kneeling in prayer, crying, laughing, hand clapping, and laying on of hands. I can hear some of my beloved now saying, "I'm not bored. I don't need any of those things. That's just immaturity to feel like you have to do all that to have a good assembly." To which our answer is .... ? My only answer is, "good for you. But what about the rest of us? Does it matter to you that we feel inhibited, stiff, disengaged, and discouraged?" A friend told me today he has a preacher calling him wanting to debate handclapping. He asked me, "How would you defend handclapping?" I think that's like trying to defend breathing or the desire to take daily baths. It seems natural to me ... it is an ancient practice (read the Bible) ... and it is not destructive to any command of God. The case against clapping is just one of our human laws made and enforced upon people from the standpoint of legalism. No one likes to be called a legalist ... so let me say something about that. CL pointed out that, "somehow we have decided that God is a rigid taskmaster who will come down here and kick us in the pants if we smile during worship." Lifers in the COC have been taught that there is a divine pattern for worship, that there are only five specific items that are allowed during that one-hour-a-week-worship-service, and that if we do worship wrong, our souls are condemned to eternal hell. I'd like to know who has EVER done worship 'right'? Considering how holy and righteous God is, which of us claims to have worshiped him according to his worth? Donna said, "When someone does decide during the assembly to put on Christ in Baptism shouldn't the crowd go wild?" Donna, the fact that we do not give each other high-fives, roar with a shout of victory, jump and hug and celebrate is clear evidence that we do not have a Kingdom View of life. A mannequin could very nearly be declared a faithful member of some congregations. The message has not been communicated and recieved that we are now living the Kingdom life. The 'legalist' is the one who believes that he has done everything God has asked of him, and done it right. I think this is a denial of the cross. I do not believe our assemblies have to have the atmosphere of the Superbowl game in order to be enthusiastic and non-boring. I believe that when we have the Kingdom in view, we are serving under the umbrella of grace that is accessed by faith. Those who are thusly engaged in the will of God are naturally enthused. They react in natural and enthusiastic ways. For some people that is in a very stoic fashion. For some it is in a rowdy and loud fashion. I suggest that our focus should mostly be on the other six days of the week and the Kingdom Walk in which we are to be engaged. We should allow freedom of expression in our assemblies so that people are not bored stiff by a dry service with no sounds of rejoicing over the good news. In other words, we ought to be ourselves. Reuel Lemmons said that we are not golf balls with the dimples all in the same places. How long shall we diffuse the enthusiasm of the enthusiastic? What do you think?