To those who never clap in church, I ask, do you ever clap anywhere else? Do you clap at the end of a good play, or maybe even at the cinema as audiences were reported to be doing after Avatar? If so, why do you do that? Surely because the actors are worth it. Isn’t Jesus worthy of at least as much applause?
To those who never shout out with excitement in church, I ask again, do you ever shout anywhere else? Do you shout when your team scores a goal? If so, why do you do that? Surely because you think the team is worth it. If so, why do you not think that Jesus is at least as worthy of a good shout?
To those of you who never dance or jump in church, I ask once more, do you ever dance anywhere else? If some earthly hero of yours, a celebrity, was appearing somewhere and you were in a vast crowd, would you jump and scream with the rest of them? What about at a wedding? Or a club? Why would you do that? Surely because you think they are worthy of the natural behavior an excited person demonstrates. Is Jesus not worthy of at least as much excitement?
To those of you who never weep with joy in church, I say is he not worthy of such a display of emotion? To those who never simply sit in silence and mediate or sing a quiet contemplative song, is he not worthy of such attention? To those who will not raise their hands in surrender to the king, is he not worthy of our worship and adoration?
And to all of us, I simply say, King David had the right idea. Somehow I suspect God agrees since such a large part of the Old Testament either comes from his pen or is about him. Somehow I think the Apostle Paul agreed with King David as he told us to sing psalms. It would be strange indeed if the Church is meant to sing psalms but not do what they say. To all of us I say, it’s time to read the book of Psalms not as some ancient hymn book but as a manual for modern day worship.
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