Excerpt from Psalm 150 

"Praise God in God's sanctuary! Praise God with the blast of a ram’s horn! Praise God with drum and dance! Let everything that breathes praise the Lord!"

Reflection by Anthony B. Robinson

I was recently in a congregation where everything was greeted with applause. Well, okay, not quite everything. People applauded the choir's anthem, the children's song, all the announcements and even the prayers of a lay leader. But no one, as I recalled, applauded the offering.

Is applause in church okay or not? Is it okay sometimes but not other times? I've been in some churches where thunderous applause seemed like another form of praise of God and just right. And I've been in churches where applause made it seem that worship was a performance and the congregation an audience and just wrong.

What I mostly noticed in the church where everything but the offering was responded to with applause is that the open and empty spaces in which God might move and get to us were all filled up. They were filled in and filled up with applause. No silence was allowed.

That church seemed long on friendly, but short on mystery.

While I have experienced times when applause in worship was spontaneous, joyful and somehow right, when applause becomes a norm or expectation it does turn worship into something it isn't, namely a performance. Worse, it fills up the spaces, the silent spaces following a powerful solo or anthem or sharing or testimony where God's presence is palpable, or might be.

Another way to put this reservation about applause is to say that applause tends to move us out of our hearts and into our heads. We ask, ":Did I like that?" "Should I applaud?" "Will it make him/ her/ them feel good and appreciated?"

One thing that gifted worship leaders do, in my observation, is they don't do too much. They lead with a light touch. They leave room for God. They hold the space. And only very rarely do they invite applause.

Prayer

Thank you Lord, for worship. It's a different and special time. Thank you for worship leaders who lead lightly and don’t need applause because they know it's not about them. Amen.

About the Author Anthony B. Robinson, a United Church of Christ minister, is a speaker, teacher and writer. His newest book is Stewardship for Vital Congregations, published by The Pilgrim Press. Read his weekly reflections on the current lectionary texts at www.anthonybrobinson.com/ by clicking on Weekly Reading.

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