Psalm Meditation 843
Proper 15
August 14, 2016

Psalm 47
1 Clap your hands, all you peoples; shout to God with loud songs of joy.
2 For the LORD, the Most High, is awesome, a great king over all the earth.
3 He subdued peoples under us, and nations under our feet.
4 He chose our heritage for us, the pride of Jacob whom he loves. Selah
5 God has gone up with a shout, the LORD with the sound of a trumpet.
6 Sing praises to God, sing praises; sing praises to our King, sing praises.
7 For God is the king of all the earth; sing praises with a psalm.
8 God is king over the nations; God sits on his holy throne.
9 The princes of the peoples gather as the people of the God of Abraham. For the shields of the earth belong to God; he is highly exalted.
(NRSV)

I grew up knowing that clapping and other outward displays of appreciation and emotion were inappropriate for the worship setting. Worship was a deathly serious practice and anything that fluctuated from that norm was seen as a bad thing. John Wesley, one of the founders of the Methodist/Wesleyan family of denominations often spoke against ‘enthusiasm,’ vocal and physical demonstrations, during worship. It is a very Puritan mind-set, that worship is staid, serious and interior, even for a congregational gathering. We are at our best with our singing, ‘lustily and with good courage.’

We have claimed and bought into our puritanical roots when we frown at any outward display during worship. It is said that the most common form of appreciation for humor among Methodists is, ‘to smile as loudly as possible.’ So, what do we do with psalms that tell us to clap and sing and shout? We have this wonderful biblical warrant to express ourselves in a variety of ways, from calm humility to the claps and shouts of this psalm. Which one is correct, proper, biblical even?

The best way to worship is the one that works in your life. The difficulty comes when we expect others to worship in our comfort zone. When the majority of the congregation is actively participatory in style, the one who prefers to sit quietly is usually accepted graciously, even if a mite curiously. When the majority style is meditative participation, the one who is vocal and active is looked on as an interruption who needs to be squelched and perhaps even squeezed out. In both cases, the one who demands an extreme version of their own style of worship can damage the worship mood for everyone.

This psalm says to clap and shout and sing with joy, others counsel that we sit in awed silence in the presence of God. Each style has its place in worship and who am I to say that two or more styles can’t happen in the same room at the same time. The focus of our worship is in God. A mason was laying brick at a parsonage in which I lived and I said, “I bet you have seen some interesting things in your life.” and he responded, “I tell my crew, ‘If you are doing your job you won’t have time to look in the windows and doors you are working around.’” So it is with worship; when we are focused on God we won’t have time or energy to focus on the worship style of those around us even as we participate together as a worshipping community.

August 8, 2016
LCM