Spiritual 'actions'
Gamma Gamaliel
Shipmate
There's a lot on this board about songs and sermons, words and music.
A reference to 'action songs' on another thread set me thinking about gestures and physical actions in worship.
Everything from kneeling to raising hands, to clapping, swaying, genuflecting, bowing, 'metanias' and prostrations and making the sign of the cross etc.
I'm wanting to steer clear of personal preferences in this thread - I'm afraid 'action songs' would send me fleeing down the road as fast as my legs could carry me ... whereas I'm gradually losing my self-consciousness about making 'metanias', kidding icons, lighting candles and so forth.
It's all down to what we become acclimatised to.
Putting that aside, I'm interested in what physical actions of any kind in any tradition- and not only Christian ones - convey and help each community express.
It could be a sense of collective solidarity, or a demonstration of personal piety (something we need to be wary of) or something that helps convey a sense of the numinous or draw attention to a particularly valued or important part of the worship.
I used to know a Baptist minister who, after making a quip or an aside during his sermon would draw himself up to his full height and pull a face as if he were about to plunge his face into a bucket of cold water before resuming his 'text' as it were.
It was an affectation certainly but an effective one. It demonstrated that we were to take the scriptures seriously.
In a different tradition there might be a procession of the Gospel Book and censing etc.
How can physical gestures help us in worship?
Let's give examples.
Bearing in mind, as Mother Maria of Paris reminds us, that we won't be asked how many prostration we made or services we attended but whether we fed the poor, clothed the naked ...
A reference to 'action songs' on another thread set me thinking about gestures and physical actions in worship.
Everything from kneeling to raising hands, to clapping, swaying, genuflecting, bowing, 'metanias' and prostrations and making the sign of the cross etc.
I'm wanting to steer clear of personal preferences in this thread - I'm afraid 'action songs' would send me fleeing down the road as fast as my legs could carry me ... whereas I'm gradually losing my self-consciousness about making 'metanias', kidding icons, lighting candles and so forth.
It's all down to what we become acclimatised to.
Putting that aside, I'm interested in what physical actions of any kind in any tradition- and not only Christian ones - convey and help each community express.
It could be a sense of collective solidarity, or a demonstration of personal piety (something we need to be wary of) or something that helps convey a sense of the numinous or draw attention to a particularly valued or important part of the worship.
I used to know a Baptist minister who, after making a quip or an aside during his sermon would draw himself up to his full height and pull a face as if he were about to plunge his face into a bucket of cold water before resuming his 'text' as it were.
It was an affectation certainly but an effective one. It demonstrated that we were to take the scriptures seriously.
In a different tradition there might be a procession of the Gospel Book and censing etc.
How can physical gestures help us in worship?
Let's give examples.
Bearing in mind, as Mother Maria of Paris reminds us, that we won't be asked how many prostration we made or services we attended but whether we fed the poor, clothed the naked ...
Comments
I might be able to 'kid' some people but not those the icons represent.
I come from a tradition historically known for eschewing if not being downright suspicious of gestures in worship beyond those sacramentally essential (like breaking bread) or postures beyond standing, sitting and, in very limited circumstances, kneeling.* I somehow escaped that aversion and suspicion, and have always been comfortable with and even attracted to use of gestures.
Fortunately for me and others of my tribe like me, there’s been a notable change over the last 50+ years—not a change where you’ll see a church full of Presbyterians making the sign of the cross, but a change where you might see a minister do it when pronouncing the blessing, and you might see a handful of congregants do it, with no one else batting an eye. Or you may see quite a few more than a handful of congregants, while coming up to take Communion, dip a finger in the font and touch it their forehead, or make a small cross on their forehead.
This is all the result of some very intentional work done by seminary professors, liturgical writers and other leaders in the PC(USA) to get us out of our heads and get us willing to embody our worship more. It’s been done not with a “we all ought” approach, but rather with an approach of “those who find it helpful should feel free to.”
* I am reminded of the old joke about the Scottish sailor who found himself in an Anglican Church one Sunday. When asked how he handled the differences, particularly the standing–kneeling–sitting, he answered, “I simply threw out the anchor of my Calvinism and rode the waves.”
Yes, I was conscious of the irony when mentioning my own. I wanted to get them out of the way ... 😉
I think I've posted on this topic before and it is something I'd like to seriously explore, so I'm pleased you responded and from a Reformed position too.
I'm not knocking the traditional Reformed position on these things as I can understand the objections even though I wouldn't accept those objections myself.
One could argue that a lack of 'gestures' or physical movement is in itself a physical response. In the same way that plain, bare whitewashed walls are themselves a design or aesthetic choice - as well as a theological one.
I know some Presbyterians go in for physical expression in worship as well as decoration and so on.
I'm interested in what forms these things take in other traditions.
I had to record the total time spent standing so I could pass it on to my physical therapy people. It came to just half of the entire service, but broken into several segments. Nothing compared to the Orthodox, but quite unusual for most churches I've visited.
In the fog of my mind, I do remember when David brought the tabernacle to Jerusalem the Bible said David danced before the altar (and did not get stuck down).
I can think of a number of hymns that have the 3/4 tempo of a waltz
Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing.
O Worship the King
My Faith Looks up to Thee
I Come with Joy.
Once, our previous pastor encouraged the congregation to get up to dance to the hymn of Shine Jesus Shine (had to be adapted a bit).
We did it only once, though.
The elderly get a bit jiggly in the hips department. Thats lovely too.
Piskie, Piskie, bow and ben’,
On yer knees and up again.
Presbie, Presbie, too proud to bend,
Sit ye doon on man’s chief end.
I don't know the vintage, probably 19th century or early 20th, but does broadly reflect the differences between the Kirk and the SEC in this area. I was flummoxed on first worshipping in the Kirk that the pews were too close to permit kneeling.