CLAPPING HANDS IN CHURCH

I am on a religious history listserv for professors and the issue of the origin (and correctness) of clapping hands in church has come up. Among the comments are the following:

1. It is a phenomenon I have witnessed since least the eighties inCharismatic/Pentecostal circles. My hunch is that it is part of alarger trend of Charismatics and Pentecostals adopting and adapting popular and successful elements of the marketing and entertainment industries. It is not necessarily orchestrated by leaders, though. It also seems to apply most strongly to larger churches, and those tryingto be "cutting edge" in their approach to ministry.

2. It is all the fault of country music.

3. An interesting phenomenon to me also .... I am a convert to Catholicism from the Anglican communion ..... Canadian Anglicans never clap inchurch, but Romans do frequently here in Canada. I have noticed the practice at Masses televised from St. Peter's in Rome also. It would take someone of longer standing than I in the Catholic church to say whether this is a post-Vatican II practice? Or something Italian which has spread because of the televised clapping in Masses from Rome?

4. I think most churches discourage it. Sheep are not to applaud the shepherd, who wears a robe and a serape (stole.) In my church applause increases, and the conservative fragment grumble but say nothing because conservative fragments never say anything except privately and behind their hands to a small, private clique. Meanwhile, increasingly, the majority of us applaud sermons, parts ofsermons, music, offertory music, joys in sharing joys and concerns (the conservative fragment HATES joys and concerns), nice flowers, nice people.

5. I spent the past three decades as a Baptist pastor and saw the practice of applauding develop slowly. I first witnessed it years ago at informal Sunday evening services in response to musical numbers sung by children. It was clearly intended to affirm the youngsters. When we added a "contemporary service" in the late 1980s, there would be a few very expressive worshipers who would on occasion spontaneously clap briefly in joyous delight. My impression is that it was influenced by those who had experienced Pentecostal-style worship. There was an awkward era when some would clap in response to a musical selection, others would be startled, and some were not sure whether to respond in like fashion. Out of concern that a failure to clap might be interpreted as displeasure, more would join in. Then clapping became a standard response to choir cantatas (where worshippers from both contemporary and traditional services would join together) unless we were intentional in asking the congregation ahead of time not to clap. Our music director, concerned that the focus was getting off worship and toward performance, would sometimes reference it as "a praise offering to God." As worship leaders (i.e, prompters), we would often use thespoken word or lighting or transitional music as a means of limiting applause. We were able to reduce the occasions in which clapping might become disruptive. That's simply one congregation's experience.

6. This is a very interesting subject. Unfortunately, I have only anecdotal information to report. The practice is quite widespread, but its significance varies. I remember a rather lively debate about applauding after the choir's anthem in the United Methodist Church I belonged to in Virginia in the1980s. As I recall the anti-applause party won. I've raised this subject with my History of Christian Worship classes regularly. Most of my students (they are mainly southern evangelicals) see little wrong with the practice. My African American students can't imagine a service without applauding and clearly understand it as a means of praising God and participating in the service. In my limited experience it is rather common to applauding the newly baptized at some point in the Easter Vigil. In many communities it seems to be the assembly's most genuine way of expressing theircongratulations and approval. It is also seems common to applaud the worship leaders at the end of the vigil. I think at every Roman Catholic Easter Vigil I have attended (four churches in four states) the celebrant has asked for the assembly to applaud all those who worked to put the Triduum services together. I know of several large Episcopal churches where it is common for those who linger to hear the postlude to applaud at the end of it. That seems to be mainly an expression of appreciation for the performance. At the United Methodist Church I attend here in Birmingham, children's choirs are almost always applauded, adult choirs receive applause more rarely. In both cases I think the action is largely one of joy and appreciation, not explicitly praise.

7. The boundary between entertainment and worship has always been porous. Think of Christmas carols, originally secular ring dances. It seems to me that some want a greater sense of participation in worship and clapping is something most people can do easily, comfortably expressinge motion with others. As a Presbyterian minister, I have spent many years in churches where applause was unheard of. Except for the singing of hymns (and taking up the offering) the laity were expected to sit passively in the pews, listening. From my perspective it has taken a long time for God's frozen chosen to warm up a bit with things as simple as the passing of the peace, participatory prayer, and, yes, clapping. The factors leading to a freer, more participatory worship style include the influences of the black church, the visibility of pentecostal churches, the liturgical movement's rediscovery of long forgotten but ancient ritual practice, and last but not least, the influences of popular culture, including music.

8. Singers are not performers.

9. Also, "Golden Throat," St. John Chrysostom, complained about clapping after his sermons in Homily I, "Theatrical Worship of Satan": "If any admirable musician come amongst them, they leave all that they had in hand, which often is necessary and pressing business, and mount the steps (in the arena), and sit listening very attentively to the words and the accompaniments, and criticizing the agreement of the two.This is what the many do." Clapping of hands is approval or contempt for theatrical or musical performers: it is never an act of worship.

10. Miss Manners said: If God wishes to applaud in church, He may, but it is inappropriate for anyone else to do so.

Interesting web sites:

Applaud Death, Too. http://mijamagazine.com/APPLAUDING%20LIFE%20&%20Death.pdf

HandClapping to Replace Amen: http://www.piney.com/WinHandCl.html

Worse than Aids? http://cconline.faithsite.com/content.asp?CID=58129

Musical Idolatry. http://www.piney.com/Clapp.html

Seventh Day Adventist Forum. http://everythingimportant.org/viewtopic.php?t=674