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From the Word: Clapping and Shouting?
Posted on December 21st, 2009 in Church Life, Faith, Worship Leadership by Fred McKinnon
Psalm 47
1 Clap your hands, all peoples! Shout to God with loud songs of joy!
2 For the Lord, the Most High, is to be feared, a great king over all the earth.
(Psalm 47: 1-2, ESV, YouVersion.Com)
It would seem that many Christians would think that this passage didn’t exist. Many of our corporate church gatherings would never have place for “clapping” and “shouting” to God. As another contributor over at YouVersion already posted, “they feel it’s not dignified”. Of course, I love King David’s response to the criticism he received for praising God … “I’ll be even more undignified than this”.
We don’t clap and shout just to do it. This is a response. A response to the greatness of God. To the bigness of a Great Big God, as the Psalmist shows us in verse 2.
You don’t have to be in a Charismatic church to experience this form of praise. Go outside in the woods and do it yourself. Turn up the radio or CD and go for it in the car on your morning commute … it’s not like the people going 60 mph behind you care. Maybe you could have a special service of praise and worship where you take 3 minutes to read this passage and comment on it and find a way to encourage everyone to try it out!
It may be awkward at first, but go for it and find the freedom in this form of praise. God is good, all the time!
Discussion:
Do you clapping and shouting as outward signs of praise in your corporate gatherings? Have you experienced this form of praise to God in your own personal life? How do you feel about it? Let’s hear from you! Click below to comment.
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17 Responses to “From the Word: Clapping and Shouting?”
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BUT FRED – that will encourage emotionalism, and worship is supposed to be a SACRIFICE! Whatever will happen if people begin to ENJOY God?!
In all seriousness, very good stuff. I grinned when I saw your tweet.
Shannon,
No kidding, haha. Are we glad to have God’s Word to illuminate what is TRUTH? I’ve heard that same argument, it cracks me up.
I know it’s been said a hundred thousand million times, but you just can’t get past it. We don’t have a problem coming home horse from screaming and jumping and clapping and whistling at a good football game. It’s ok to be “undignified” and praise the good plays. But to do so at church???
Something’s definitely wrong with this picture.
“We don’t clap and shout just to do it. This is a response. A response to the greatness of God. To the bigness of a Great Big God, as the Psalmist shows us in verse 2.”
That’s the key – when our understanding of worship is that it’s all about His worth, and He’s infinitely worthy, what form of expression would be “overboard”? Obviously, in corporate gatherings we need order, and there would be times when certain individual expressions would be inapropriate. But “orderly” and “dignified” are not necessarily synonymous.
Robert uses the football game analogy, which is very true. Honestly, I was always a pretty reserved person, and still don’t get very excited about sporting events (now, don’t judge me!). However, when I met the Lord at 24 years of age, I found that I wanted to laugh, cry, shout, sit silently, jump, dance, bow, raise my hands…I had never known the kind of joy, peace, love, holiness, greatness, (infinite list) that I was experiencing in knowing Him. He caused music to awaken in me that had been lying there dormant, because I had no practical purpose for it. Suddenly, I found it was one primary way to express what was inside me towards the great and mighty God Who had saved me.
The Bible has a lot to say about this, and a look at the worship of heaven in the book of Revelation sheds some light – lots of shouting, singing (oh, plus 1/2 hour of silence), elders falling on their thrones (now THAT’s undignified!), thunderous songs of praise – endless response to the glory and majesty of God.
I could talk about this for a long time, but suffice it to say that there’s nothing too extravagant, too boisterous (look up the Hebrew word “halal”), too intense, to give our God to proclaim His infinite worth and glory!
New blog post: From the Word: Clapping and Shouting? http://www.fredmckinnon.com/myblog/2009/12/21/from-the-word-clapping-and-shouting/
RT @fmckinnon: New blog post: From the Word: Clapping and Shouting? http://www.fredmckinnon.com/myblog/2009/12/21/from-the-word-clappin …
Worship should always be a response to God. We worship because of who He is. We worship because of what He has done. Clapping and shouting should be just that, a response to the greatness of God. You are right… it should not be to “evoke” emotion or draw attention. Are we applauding the performer or the performance or are we applauding as a response to what we experience in worship?
All good comments…the one thing that I would say is that people’s genuine response/worship has to do with their God-given personality and comfort in expressing themselves. I would hate to pressure, guilt, or manufacture anyone’s outward “worship”. That said, as a worship leader, I believe in modeling worship (on and off the platform) – not that I have it perfected at all.
When I first started leading worship, I “gauged” the “worship” by the responses I saw (clapping, raised hands, etc [not too much shouting or dancing...I'm Baptist!]) – which we know is wrong. Personally, I am a firm believer in outwardly expressing my worship of our amazing God. It is biblical and when done with a right heart (which only God can see) and with pure intent (again, which only God can truly know), it honors and glorifies God and encourages and spurs others to worship God (Heb 10:24-25).
I think the bottom line is striving to balance orderly worship (which is just as biblical as expressive worship) without inhibiting the freedoms in Christ to express our love for Him!
I agree that people shouldn’t be “pressured”, and that different people have certain personalities. Perhaps it’s not a “personality” issue? And I definitely don’t believe it’s a “comfort zone” issue.
Worship isn’t about comfort or our own personality issues is it? Is it not supposed to be about Him?
I believe that the person who doesn’t feel “comfortable” with clapping, or is “reserved” in their personality or just quiet by nature and doesn’t “shout” (these are just the examples Fred used, but there are many more)may simply need to be “educated” on what worhsip is, and that there are places in the scripture that tell us to shout, clap, bow down, weep, etc.
“But in all things, let it be done in an orderly fashion” . . .
Just my thoughts
Robert – great thoughts…
I so appreciate and agree with your, “Worship isn’t about comfort or our own personality issues is it? Is it not supposed to be about Him?” statement. Having that mindset and attitude, takes the focus off self and makes it about our amazing and deserving God.
I’m also in complete agreement with educating people on what worship is and how we express our worship of God not only in the gathered setting, but also away from the “church”.
Blessings!
Is clapping and shouting in church reserved for Charismatics? http://is.gd/5w6hu
Is clapping and shouting in church reserved for Charismatics? http://is.gd/5w6hu (via @fmckinnon)
RT @fmckinnon Is clapping and shouting in church reserved for Charismatics? http://is.gd/5w6hu
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This post was mentioned on Twitter by fmckinnon: New blog post: From the Word: Clapping and Shouting? http://www.fredmckinnon.com/myblog/2009/12/21/from-the-word-clapping-and-shouting/...
There is a pattern of worship in the old testament and there is a pattern of worship in the new testament. Clapping, shouting, dancing is not in the new testament, it’s in the old. Are we Christians of the old or new covenant? You can’t follow the old testament pattern of worship and claim to be a new testament Christian. Since the old covenant died on the cross and was replaced by a more perfect one, why do so many people feel that they must add to the word of God. Is the new testament not good enough for you? The justification is always supported by emotion. Did God leave something out of the new testament or did he just leave it up to us to decide what “feels right”?
Steve, I’d assume you are coming from a Church of Christ background, and that’s OK – you are soooooo more than welcome here. I don’t pretend to think I could change your mind anymore than you could change mine. My only comment or response is that the “Old Covenant” is about the Law of God, and how we, as fallen, sinful people, could never be justified on our own. It’s there to reveal our sin, our faults, and our desperate need for a Savior. The New Testament/Covenant is about Jesus Christ fulfilling that law (not abolishing it … fulfilling it). The Law is about justification and salvation, not about methods of worship.
There were things (rules, etc) in the Old Covnenant that The New Testament made a point to address and change. They had to do with rules and regulations. (what you can eat, what is unclean, etc). They never address whether or not you can or can’t play music. This isn’t even about singing or music, though, it’s about shouting, another audible version of praise.
Like I said, I don’t pretend that anyone would win that debate, that’s not the purpose of this blog anyway … thanks for leaving your comment, though!
Todays' Blog Post: Is clapping and shouting in church reserved for Charismatics? http://is.gd/5w6hu