Body Worship

The Church does well with worship. She comes together every Sunday to give praise to God, hear words from the Lord, and bring the prayers of the world in the Spirit that God may answer them. Especially in the Presbyterian stripe of the Church, the saints are good at worshipping with their minds. In many a sanctuary on Sunday morning (or evening or even Saturday night) can be found prayers and sermons that engage the mind and carry the human capacity for thought to a higher plane.

Most flavours of the Church are also good at worshipping with the heart. Aching and beautiful chords sing out from organs, guitars, and flutes, inspiring similar emotive strains from the voices of the congregation. Poetry in hymns and contemporary songs lift the passions of the Bride of Christ to soaring heights.

The Church, as I know her, is not quite so good at worshipping with the body.

My last class in Dunedin was entitled, "Worship and the Performing Arts." (It was taught, incidentally, by another American professor.) In this class we explored the matter of music, drama, and dance as elements of the Church's worship. I found the discussions quite illuminating and challenging, especially with so many people coming from Pacific Island cultures where the performing arts have a different role in everyday and sacred life than they do in mainstream American culture.

The assertion that most challenged me was this: If Jesus Christ redeems us in mind, heart, and body, then we ought also to worship with mind, heart, and body.

It is a tame assertion at first. But then I took an examining look at the work of worship in most congregations of which I have been a part. The only bodily worship we seem to do is stand (at times) and use our vocal cords. Now don't get me wrong: standing is a virtuous part of worship, and our vocal cords are certainly redeemed by the Spirit. But there are so many ways in which redemption of the body might be shown that are under-used.

Clapping is a basic one. In the Presbyterian stripe we're often a bit shy about clapping, but when you get a congregation going in a song they know well and clapping with the beat, joyous things happen. Not only do people en-joy the song more, but as a mass we exude a great joyous noise.

The same goes for dancing. No, we're not talking about club dancing or disco dancing. We're talking about the movement of arms, legs, and body in rhythmic fashion, following the lead of song or voice--and it must be done in a way that honours God and connects with others in the congregation. But I think we should dance. David did it before the ark on its way into Jerusalem, and I think we would benefit by reclaiming that mode of honouring God in the energetic movement of our bodies.

There is still much to be worked out for me--including the discernment of how the congregation to which I am called as pastor will embrace these ideas of "incarnational worship." But the work we did in this class has stuck with me. I hope it proves fruitful in the future.

~emrys