Interesting news article in today's Nashville newspaper, the Tennessean;
Saturday, 03/31/07
Churchgoers disagree on clapping in worship
By ANITA WADHWANI
Staff Writer
In the larger scheme of the “worship wars,” it may be but a minor skirmish.
But among many churchgoers, clapping — as in applause, putting one’s hands together in an audible display of appreciation — elicits opinions as passionate as those on the idea of replacing traditional hymns with Christian rock or wearing flip-flops and shorts to church.
“Clapping isn’t reverent, and we’re told by the Bible to worship with reverent awe,” said Cindy House, 49.
She’s a resolute non-hand-clapper during worship services at Tulip Grove Baptist Church in Old Hickory, where the pastor — an occasional church clapper — last month wrote an article in the church newsletter giving a biblical justification for applause in church.
It didn’t sway House. “Clapping is something we do at sporting events or for political speeches or concerts,” she said. Clapping in church, she said, is “irritating. It often times ruins it for me.”
It’s one small chapter in the ongoing saga of the so-called worship wars, a struggle over the best way to praise God that has generally divided churchgoers into two camps.
Traditionalists view some of the more modern trappings — such as guitars and drums, casual dress, and a more relaxed church atmosphere — as inappropriate, secular, even sacrilegious. Clapping, they say, is one more sign of the secular entertainment world creeping into churches.
Those interested in more contemporary worship styles say there are many ways to praise God and the younger generation find some more appealing. Clapping, if it’s a genuine expression of worship, is a fine way to praise God, they say.
Ken Clayton is the pastor of Tulip Grove Baptist Church who wrote the newsletter article. He said applause is a fine way to worship — when it’s a genuine expression of faith, rather than a response to the performance quality of a singer or choir.
“Some of the same people who would praise and clap at concerts and games would come to church and sit on their hands,” he said. “But it’s a natural thing to clap. I think we’ve allowed the world to take over a natural thing.”
Clayton cited several Scriptural passages to support applause as appropriate during worship.
• There’s
Psalm 98:8, “Let the floods clap their hands; let the hills sing together for the joy at the presence of the Lord, for he is coming.”
• And this one:
Isaiah 55:12: “For you shall go out in joy and be led back in peace; the mountains and the hills before you shall burst into song, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.”
“I think some people are worried that if you do that, the next step is you’re speaking in tongues or standing up and dancing in the pews,” Clayton said.
In some denominations, applause is rare or non-existent. In Catholic or Episcopal churches, for example, applause is infrequent, generally reserved for announcements or accomplishments at the end of a service. In Churches of Christ, which, as a rule, don’t have musical instruments of any kind during church services, it’s also rare.
In Southern Baptist churches — the largest denomination in Tennessee — “you hear it in places where you never heard it before,” said Paul Clark, a worship specialist with the Tennessee Baptist Convention. “It would have been almost unheard of twenty or thirty years ago.”
At Victory Baptist Church in Mt. Juliet, in the midst of a particularly uplifting hymn, Glenda Burch, 46, said she was moved to spontaneous applause.
“I clapped and several other people started clapping, too,” she said. “The music was beautiful. But no one else did.”
Feeling awkward, she laid her hands in her lap, as did the other clappers.
“I grew up in Southern Baptist churches all my life,” Burch said. “When I was growing up, women were kind of hush, hush. Men would sometimes say amen but women wouldn’t speak out in church. I think times change and people should change too.”
Several months ago, Burch approached her pastor to say she thought applause was okay in church. But her pastor, Chuck Groover, disagrees, and has said so from the pulpit.
“Part of what we’re dealing with in the church at this time in history is that we’re trying to maintain our uniqueness in helping people understand there is a difference between worship and what we experience at the symphony hall,” Groover said. “Quite frankly, we’ve reached the point whenever anyone shares anything in a gathering, it’s as if we must respond with applause.
“Look at how popular American Idol is and if you ever listen to any of those folks, people clap. And some of them probably don’t deserve a clap.”
Harriet Moore, 85, didn’t want to identify her Methodist church by name, saying she didn’t want to offend. But she called the clapping and all the amens “just distracting.
“I guess I feel like there should be more listening to the sermons and that sort of thing instead of bringing in all these extra sorts of things. It seems like there’s not much message, just 15 minutes. Then you’ve got this group singing and that group singing. They’re trying to be active all the time,” she said.
“When I was a child, it wasn’t that way. You just sat and you listened.”
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