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Contemporary Issues: Dance, Drama, Powerpoint, and Body Posture and Unified Or Diverse Liturgies?

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Contemporary Issues: Dance, Drama, Powerpoint, and Body Posture and Unified Or Diverse Liturgies? Christian Worship Lesson 19, page 1 Contemporary Issues: Dance, Drama, PowerPoint, and Body Posture And Unified or Diverse Liturgies? Let us pray. Father, we pray that as we try to apply biblical principles and truth to the contemporary issues of our day, some of the specific ones that we have not looked at but will begin to in this lesson, help us to hold tightly to Your principles and somewhat loosely to the manner of applying them into some of these practical areas. These areas change much with developing technology and the introduction of new ideas. Help us to be wise. Give us the gift of discernment and understanding as we go. We look to You to do this. In Jesus’ name, Amen. In the areas of dance, drama, film, PowerPoint, and body posture, I want to look at some of the questions that come up as we look at these contemporary issues in worship, many of which are specific to our North American context. We talked a little bit about dance when we were in Exodus 15 and 2 Samuel 6. Psalms 149 and 150 also call upon the people of God to dance in His presence. To me, the question of whether or not dancing can be done to the glory of God can be answered simply. Yes, dancing can be done to the glory of God. We saw it with Miriam and the women of Israel, we saw it with David, and we see it in Psalms 149 and 150. Let me read those verses from the Psalms specifically. Psalm 139:1 sets the context: “Praise the LORD. Sing to the LORD a new song, his praise in the assembly of the saints.” Then 139:3 says, “Let them praise his name with dancing and make music to him with tambourine and harp. For the LORD takes delight in his people; he crowns the humble with salvation.” Thus it seems that this dancing could be happening when the people gather in assembly. That is the interesting thing. Dancing almost by definition, when it is done to the glory of God, seems to be done when God’s people are assembled, gathered together. Now, whether it happens when God’s people are gathered for corporate, public worship—that is the question we have to keep asking. Psalm 150 says: Praise the LORD. Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heavens. Praise him for his acts of power; praise him for his surpassing greatness. Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet, praise him with the harp and lyre, praise him with tambourine and dancing, praise him with the strings and flute, praise him with the clash of cymbals, praise him with resounding cymbals. Let everything that has breath praise the LORD. Praise the LORD. One of the strangest worship experiences I had was when I was in Pennsylvania. I would attend on occasion a great church where the people sang the psalms a cappella very well. The preaching was good; many of the people who attended went to Geneva College and were friends of mine. This church was part of the Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America. I worked with the youth of this church and some others of the same denomination in the area. I also preached there about every second or third Sunday evening of the month in summertime over two summers in joint services with some of those © Summer 2006, Mark Dalbey & Covenant Theological Seminary Christian Worship Lesson 19, page 2 churches. But every Sunday while I was there the closing song after the benediction, which was sung with enthusiasm and vigor, as we went out, was Psalm 150, a cappella. So we were singing without any musical instruments, “Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet, praise him with the harp and lyre, praise him with tambourine and dancing, praise him with the strings and flute, praise him with the clash of cymbals, praise him with resounding cymbals.” It was the strangest thing to be singing that a cappella. But it was in the Psalter and so they sang it. It is a going-out-with-praise sort of song, so it fit—it just seemed a little incomplete without instruments. However, people could make a similar comment about me because I sing this psalm with instruments but without dancing. I think the question is just because dancing can be done to the glory of God, does that mean it should be done in corporate, public worship? This is a very helpful question to remember when we are trying to affirm the arts as Christian. The arts have been under-affirmed up until now in the United States from a lack of emphasis on common grace and the creational design of God that many things can be done to His glory that are not overtly spiritual. The creation sings God’s praise, longs for its restoration, and reflects His glory even now. Thus things like artwork, sculptures, and the like can beautifully reflect the glory of God in His creation and the creative abilities of the men and women He has made. Music that goes far beyond corporate, public worship can be glorifying to God. Drama, dance, film—the things we are talking about here—are not inherently evil. They are tools and instruments that can be used to the glory of God and the edification of His people. The question has to do with the context of corporate, public worship. Also, when it comes to dance, all the Scriptural references to it are in the Old Testament. Thus we come up against the question, what about going from the Old to the New Testament? Where is there continuity and where is there discontinuity? The Scripture does not say as much about dancing as I wish it did. Some people say we should therefore not dance in worship, and I understand that and feel the weight of that. But I think my present, working conclusion (that I do not hold tightly) is that dance should not be a stand-alone element in worship, but I think it could be a manner of expression during other elements in worship. That is where I try to draw a line that is not hard and fast but is nonetheless distinguishable. In my mind, dance as a stand-alone element would be if the major thing that is happening in the service while there is dancing is the dancing itself. I have seen this in some churches. People who are trained, gifted, and practiced come out and give an interpretive dance to a worship song. Can this be done wonderfully and beautifully? Of course it can. But it seems to me that the problem is this: the main element in worship that is going on then is not the singing of the worship song, but it is the dancing. I compare that to what I have seen in other contexts such as Ghana, West Africa, where what is happening when they are dancing is that they are praising God in song, and the bodily expression of dance is secondary to the singing and praising. There, dancing is a manner of expressing joyful praise to God while singing. So there is a distinction. In one sense I am not completely comfortable closing the door on and eliminating any dancing where it would seem to be a major element of worship in itself. And on the other hand I am not completely comfortable opening the door to any type of dancing that would be expressive of another element of worship such as singing. I sort of put dance in the same category as other body postures for worship like standing, kneeling, lying flat on your face, or raising your hands. These are all body postures and expressions that in different times and places during the Gospel progression have been utilized as a manner of doing and accomplishing commanded elements of worship. I have been in settings where people have been critical of others who are swaying and clapping their hands while singing. I would not call that dancing, though John Frame says, “The difference between tapping your toe and dancing in the aisle is just a matter of degree.” Well, it is a pretty big degree. But people have commented to me that they were distracted by others swaying and clapping their hands © Summer 2006, Mark Dalbey & Covenant Theological Seminary Christian Worship Lesson 19, page 3 while singing. I would like to see more swaying and clapping of hands because it makes for more holistic worship. We can worship in our hearts, but God also gave us hands to raise, knees to kneel on, and a face to fall on. I think our de facto place we go—at least in my experience of Presbyterian worship—is pretty didactic, informational, lecture hall. These are all well intended, all important, and all necessary. But there are weaknesses to this, such as viewing everything but the sermon in a service as preliminaries, downplaying singing as perhaps too emotional, or the thought that instrumental music without words cannot be a part of worship because it has no content attached to it. I think our resistance to bodily expressions in worship for some is an issue of Gnosticism, thinking of the body as evil and the spirit as good. However, I do not think that is the primary issue for the circles I have been in. I think in our circles (the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA)) the issue is more one of considering whether it is worth the potential distraction, and also it reminds us of what the Pentecostals and Charismatics do.
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