Movement and Worship

by koot van wyk (DLitt et Phil; ThD)

Kyungpook National University

Sangju Campus

South Korea

conjoint lecturer of Avondale College

Australia

Scholars today are talking about traditional worship and contemporary worship. Two styles, two different styles. In some churches, these two styles are in a dialectical relationship. Scholars are also finding a hybrid form or mixed form in which we can see a third style, mixing contemporary with traditional worship styles. This would be a blending worship style.

Scholars are pointing out that the traditional worship style is your hymn-and-prayer sandwich. The contemporary style of worship, they call the block style of worship. The songs are all in a continuous block and in a non-stop performance. In the traditional pattern, the hymn will be followed by scripture reading or a prayer.

In traditional worship the pastor is the key player of the agenda and he is the leader announcing the venue for worship. In the contemporary style of worship, the leaders are part of a singing or performing team of artists of whom their leader is the spokesman for the agenda or pace of the worship.

In traditional worship there is no specific expectations on the response to the worship since it is an inner affair, privately to one self. In the contemporary setting, the leader is encouraging the audience to audibly, visually display signs of participation, satisfaction.

In traditional worship the preacher moves the audience thoughts and thereby maybe their hearts. In contemporary worship the music leader is hopeful the audience will physically move.

The traditional preacher hopes to catch signals of satisfaction with the sermon by smiles, nods, just now and then an amen. Never a hallelujah is expected.

The contemporary music leader (almost like a cheer-leader) is encouraging strong physical display of satisfaction, loud amens, hallelujahs are encouraged. 

With the traditional preacher the content is sometimes deeper or shallow, depending how the preacher chose it to be. With your contemporary speaker, the sermon will be immediately, with not much contemplation or reflection needed. The content is more shallow.

In traditional worship the preacher telescope into the Bible at various depths and levels to elucidate values from each level. In contemporary worship the music leader telescope into human experience and human emotions and wish to gain a truth from such a venture to learn something or to emulate as role model.

The effective preacher in the traditional model is one who mixed human experience and Scriptural data in such an interwoven pattern that the audience is surprise and moved by both the Bible and experience, experience helping to understand the Bible better and the Bible helping to understand human experience better. On the other hand, in contemporary worship style effective music leader is the one that moves a large percentage of his audience either to tears or near-tears and give the image or understanding that many have given their hearts visually to the Lord that day. In such a setting the afterglow comment of the audience is that "the Spirit was moving today".

Kinetics is the science of movement. Kinetics in worship will be a scientific study of movement in worship. Now that we understand the difference between the two models of worship, it is easier to see that there are degrees in each style that one can find in different denominations. Contemporary for Catholics in some circles will be to use English instead of Latin in their liturgy. Contemporary worship in other churches will be to use guitars and other electrical instruments in the worship as apposed to the piano and organ that were used in traditional worship.

The biggest criticism the younger audience had against traditional worship is that it is boring. The biggest criticism that the older audience had against contemporary worship is that it is too noisy, both in front and among the audience. Some pastors set themselves the task of blending the two styles, hoping that thereby both groups can be satisfied. Several books came out on this topic of blending as an ideal.

We need to look at the history of movement in worship. The Egyptian "hippy" pharaoh Ikhnaton that ruled Egypt created his own monotheistic religion, the Aton religion, use to roll naked creaping up to the god. There is actually a scene where one can see Ikhnaton on the floor in front of his god. This is in 1360 BCE.

When Elijah challenged the Baal priests on mount Carmel, they were dancing and screaming for their god to react and Elijah was mocking them that their god may have gone to the toilet. Elijah did not dance at all in his worship.

In Greek religion the oracle of Delphi use to be "worked up" females dancing around a tripod later speaking in gibberish interpreted as oracles that needed explanation.

The subject of strange phenomena in worship is large and the church fathers had lots to say about this. But, we want to come to the Shakers.

Dance in worship: the Shakers

The Shakers arrived in 1781, in the heart of the "Deadly Wound" period. The name Shakers is given to a group of believers who dance in order to shake off the sins of this world. They danced by forming in groups a circle, almost like folk-dance and then became ecstatic.

The online information said:

"On Holy Hill in their day-long (and occasionally night-long) meetings the 80 to 90 Brother and Sister Harvard Shakers found a particularly intricate and ecstatic form of worship in the dance.  They would dance round and round the fountain, spinning and whirling rhythmically.  They would march and sing for hours, swaying in unison.  Whirling like a top, a "chosen instrument" would fall to the ground in a faint, to arise conversing with departed spirits and in unknown tongues."

http://www.boudillion.com/holyhill/holyhill.htm

The site is useful in that many photos accompany the article.

Holy laughers

From an online video taken on the 11th of February 2007, one can see the effects of uncontrolled laughing in church. The Pentacostal Churces experienced three waves of uncontrolled worship style, one in the 1940's, one in the 1980's and now again since 2001. The pastor of this church encourages his members to laugh.

'Third wave' sermons supported by religious leaders at Juneau Christian Church, include "uncontrollable laughter, weeping, shrieking."

"Rodney Howard-Browne is one of the most controversial and publicized figures of the Third Wave movement."

The online information shows a couple of similar events all over the world:

http://www.youtube.com/user/isaiah58broadcast

http://www.alternet.org/election08/98703/very_bizarre_'holy_laughter_annointing'_theology_at_sarah_palin's_juneau_church/?comments=view&cID=1015783&pID=1015462

Holy dances, holy shakers, holy rollers in Pentacostal churches today

In some online videos one can see how the electronic music and band style of contemporary worship is used to work the audience up in a frenzy of dances, shakes, hands up swinging and even bumping church members to fall on the ground.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?gl=CA&hl=en&v=XDlg0xhf0hE&feature=related

In this meeting dating to December 24 in 2007 the members supposedly received a new song from the Holy Spirit called, "Fill us with glory now" and many members are lying on the floor, swinging arms, crying hallelujah, amens, and amid digital music spoke glossalalia or gibberish which they interpreted as language from the Holy Spirit.

Clappers Bible dance

In this video, the church went mental and one can see the chaos that is increasingly getting out of control simply because the quiet working of the Holy Spirit as the Bible is saying was substituted for noisy, performative worship style that includes movement.

youtube.com/watch?gl=CA&hl=en&v=XDlg0xhf0hE&feature=related

Movement in worship (MIW)

There is an online site with this name that actually provides lectures how churches can bring dance into their worship styles, through dramas, singing, theater performances in church. Banners are used at times as well and they teach all aspects of movement, lightning, choreography, fashion, make-up and all music that are accompanied with this style of worship.

The Bible:

Romans 8:26 reads literally from the Greek:

But also in the like manner the Holy Spirit takes to Himself over against together our weakness, for the what we may pray for, as it is necessary, we do not know, for the Spirit self intercedes for us with groanings that cannot be spoken [unutterable].

van wyk notes:

1. It is the Spirit groaning word-less to the Trinity on our behalf, not we groaning with the Spirit to the Trinity.

2. The groaning is not sound or gibberish from its members.

3. Intercession is not between the Spirit and Trinity not between us and the Spirit. It is His work that is outlined here not ours.

4. Note that in our worship style we do not know what to pray for as it is necessary.

5. If the Spirit is effective on our behalf in silence and unuttered words then movement in worship on our part is not necessary to secure salvation.

6. The biblical view of interest in God and His salvation for us is an inner decision. It can be totally in silence, privately and individually. No raising of hands is necessary, no Amens, no Hallelujahs. God reads the heart and mind.

7. It appears to be that if a preacher is dependent on amens, hallelujahs, handraising and movement in worship for his effectiveness and motivation in preaching, that something is amiss.

1 Corinthians 14:33

For God is not disorderly but peace.

van wyk notes:

1. In context, the peace here is silence, as He expects the disorderly females to be in church in the next verse.

2. Worship disorder was the big problem in the church of Corinthians.

1 Corinthians 14:40

But let all things be in a becoming manner and in order.

van wyk notes:

1. This is the rule for worship styles.

2. It brings us to some relevant questions:

Is blending the answer?

Is contemporary worship noisy?

What we need to for an answer is given by Paul:

a. make sure there are teaching, prophecying, translations into other languages.

b. All of these should be edifying. What does edifying mean? Not to be as a child but as an adult. One should grow up towards an adult.

c. What does it mean to grow up towards an adult? It means that we are able to join father and mothers and grandfathers and grandmothers in worship effectively without them feeling uncomfortable with our styles.

d. If the endresult of the worship style is considered and it leads increasingly to various levels of non-control, uncontrol, noise, then that style does not have the ingredients for worship.

Dear God

You intercedes for us who do not know how to worship You with unspoken quiet groanings within the Trinity. We totally rely on your effectiveness on our part. Save us in your kingdom.

Amen.