Applause

In a Christianity Today article they tell us the "worship wars" are waning. You know, all that disagreement about choirs or praise bands, bulletins or projection equipment, drums or organs. All that silly traditional stuff is on its way out. They mentioned that, while many churches held two services -- one for the "traditional" and the other for the "contemporary" -- that is on its way out, too. You get the new version or nothing. The trend, it seems, is toward more informality and more alignment with the popular culture's music and methods. Also noted, "Increasingly informal worship is part of a movement away from belief and doctrine." (And isn't it strange that the larger the church, the less each member gives?)

Well, I'm not wading into the "worship wars" here. It was something else that struck me, one thing I noticed from the article. "Applause is up 10%." The dictionary defines "applause" as "hand clapping as a demonstration of approval, appreciation, acclamation, or the like." Synonyms include "acclaim" and "praise". So that's "applause". You beat your hands together repeatedly to show approval or praise. And I'm wondering about that ... in church.

Applause in normal use is the expression of approval or praise for someone's performance. They did a good job; you applaud. They said something you liked; you applaud. They had a magnificent performance; you stand and beat your hands together for some time. All well and good. But how does that fit in church? To answer that, the question would need to be "What are you approving?" I've been in a service where someone is baptized, for instance, and when they come out of the water there might be applause. That would say, "I approve of your choice to obey, your opting to identify yourself with Christ's death and resurrection." I can see that. We are commanded to "encourage one another and build one another up" (1 Thess 5:11). But, of course, that is not likely the applause the CT article is referring to. No, that would more likely be applause for the musicians and singers. A special piece performed, a solo sung, that kind of thing. Does that fall under the "encourage one another" command? Maybe. Alas, I'm thinking that it does not.

In any performance there are three basic components. There is the director, the performer, and the audience. The director indicates what happens when -- coordinates things -- while the performers do the performance for the audience. Simple stuff. But in church who occupies those positions? In a Lady Gaga concert, the audience is clear and the performer is clear. And when the audience applauds, it applauds the performer, Lady Gaga. I believe that we've applied the same standard in church today so that the praise band or other performers are the ones on the stage and the audience is the congregation. Except, that misses entirely the purpose of a gathering of believers for worship. In church, then, the actual arrangement of roles should go something more like this. Begin with the audience. Who is the audience in worship? Well, it's not the congregation. It's God. Oh, now, suddenly everything shifts, doesn't it? So if God is the audience, who is the performer and who is the director? If God is the audience, the performer becomes the congregation and the director becomes those who are leading the performance. You can see that this is a shift in perspective from the world's view. And in the case of a concert, for instance, there's nothing wrong with expressing approval for a good performance. But if God is the audience in a church service, then it would just seem really strange for the performers to applaud the directors, wouldn't it?

Now, mind you, I'm not getting my knickers in a twist over applause in church. They do it. I don't. No big deal. What concerns me is not that people applaud for a good performance on the stage at church. What concerns me is that instead of a perspective of focusing our worship on God, we've shifted our attention to performers we like on stage. That is, there is a fundamental shift of focus in churches today of which applause for performers is only a symptom. And when you get down to it, so is all the rest. Choirs are out and bands are in because we like the bands better -- we, the audience. Bulletins are out and modern displays are in because we like the modern stuff better -- we, the audience. Organs are out and drums and electric guitars are in because we like those better -- we, the audience. Pleasing the audience is what's important, and that audience is not God. Applause, organs, and video displays aside, that is my real concern. Have we so merged our worship approach with the world's "entertain me" perspective that God and the truth are no longer our primary concern? The polls suggest that is a real possibility.