I’ve been wondering for a while now about the incessant clapping between songs during Sunday morning worship. I’m not sure how this strange trend started, but it’s always made me uncomfortable. Coincidentally, it seems to have started right around the time worship music hit the commercial market in a big way, and I’ve wondered also if there is a connection between these two developments. Exactly who is being applauded on Sunday morning? You want to assume it’s God, but it never really feels that way to me.
I visited a church in my area for the first time yesterday, one that has been growing rather explosively. It was the snappy ad in the paper that drew me, something about ‘experiencing the power of God.’ …In a word, NOT. It was actually more like an extended period of elevator behavior. You know, where everyone stares straight ahead in a zombie-like trance of extreme isolation? Even the clapping felt a bit robotic. But when the pastor mentioned being ‘back-stage,’ I felt a chill rundown my spine.
Yes, in one sense it’s just a word, a descriptive term of location. But could it also serve to explain a central shift in our worship perspective? Worship as performance rather than devotion? A friend had recommended the church to me, saying that it was ‘like going to a concert.’ Unfortunately, it was exactly like that. The final nail in the coffin was when we were singing “I Could Sing of Your Love Forever” following the sermon. The lead guitarist leaned into the mic and thanked us for coming, at which point the singing stopped mid-song (I kid you not!) and the robots, um, I mean, the people turned immediately to the aisles and left, quickly and rather silently. Apparently ‘forever’ wasn’t even the full three minutes. This song was not so much an expression of adoration as a part of the closing ceremony.
At what point did the audience of One come to mean ourselves?
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on Wednesday, September 19th, 2007 at 9:01 am and is filed under General, Staff Blogs.
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