Emotions not welcome
British people don’t like to show their emotions. Stiff upper lip and all that. It’s still around in my generation – it seems the only time people feel free to show their true emotions in public is when completely drunk, because then at least they have an excuse. Unfortunately, this ’stiff upper lip’ culture is present in churches too. In many churches showing emotion is just not the done thing. If you have the urge show any outward expression of what is going on in your heart, you’d better sit tight and suppress it. And don’t even think about raising your hand in a worship song and distracting everyone by the sheer inappropriateness of it all.
Churches where people are free to show emotion are often dismissed and labelled as ‘misguided’, ‘charismatic’ (which is definitely used as a dirty word in some Christian circles), ‘wacky’, ‘happy clappy’ (another ‘insult’) or ‘doctrinally unsound’ . Of course, there are some churches that emphasize on emotions and neglect essentials such as the preaching and teaching of God’s word. And of course, some emotional displays or outbursts are inappropriate. These things should clearly be avoided. But the disapproval of showing emotions in church stems mainly from our cultural upbringing, however much people attempt to back up their disapproval with theological reasons. If you don’t believe me, just go to an African church and spot the difference. Better yet, read any account of worship in the Bible.
Surely, if emotion is to be expressed anywhere, church should be the place? It is not irreverant to show emotion, in fact it is the opposite. Joy, awe and wonder, along with other emotions, are a suitable and fitting response to meeting with the almighty God. Some may find it ‘weird’ and get uncomfortable when people show emotions in church, but to me it is significantly more weird to go to a church service where people display no emotion until tea and coffee after the service, and are seemingly unaffected by the presence of God.
Authentic worship is what God requires:
Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth - John 4:23-24
If you are supressing your emotions, how can you be authentic? Does God delight in your worship if you appear indifferent and, dare I say it, bored? What are you saying to God (and any non-believer observing you) if you are quite comfortable showing a whole range of emotions at a football match, or when watching a TV programme but when it comes to celebrating and praising your God and Saviour….nothing. When you are passionate about something you inevitably show emotion, you just can’t help yourself. How can we claim to be passionate about God in emotionless churches?
That’s why it gives me joy and reassurance to read throughout the Bible of believers who worshipped God with body and soul, who had intimacy with Him and who were not afraid to show their emotions.
This morning I was reading from the book of Ezra:
When the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the LORD, the priests in their vestments and with trumpets, and the Levites (the sons of Asaph) with cymbals, took their places to praise the LORD, as prescribed by David king of Israel. With praise and thanksgiving they sang to the LORD :
“He is good;
his love to Israel endures forever.”
And all the people gave a great shout of praise to the LORD, because the foundation of the house of the LORD was laid. But many of the older priests and Levites and family heads, who had seen the former temple, wept aloud when they saw the foundation of this temple being laid, while many others shouted for joy. No one could distinguish the sound of the shouts of joy from the sound of weeping, because the people made so much noise. And the sound was heard far away. – Ezra 3:10-13
Psalm 149
1 Praise the LORD.
Sing to the LORD a new song,
his praise in the assembly of the saints.
2 Let Israel rejoice in their Maker;
let the people of Zion be glad in their King.
3 Let them praise his name with dancing
and make music to him with tambourine and harp.
4 For the LORD takes delight in his people;
he crowns the humble with salvation.
5 Let the saints rejoice in this honor
and sing for joy on their beds.
6 May the praise of God be in their mouths
and a double-edged sword in their hands,
7 to inflict vengeance on the nations
and punishment on the peoples,
8 to bind their kings with fetters,
their nobles with shackles of iron,
9 to carry out the sentence written against them.
This is the glory of all his saints.
Praise the LORD.
Filed under: Cultural Strongholds, World & Culture, church | 6 Comments
Tags: authentic, Bible, charismatic, church, culture, emotion, ezra, happy clappy, John, passion, service, stiff upper lip, worship
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Good post, – may God continue to call you to “Delight yourself in the Lord” :)
Woops just commented with my real name…and I can’t seem to delete it! Could you delete it for me??? I do not know the ways of WordPress!
tis done…no-one will ever know your true identity haha!
Thanks chuck!
Hi, and a thoughtful discussion of the place of emotions in Christianity (churches).
Emotions, however, need to be under one’s control and not allowed to run rampant. For an insightful discussion of the place of emotions in one’s life, see Georgia’s new book, THATS NOT ME: DISCOVER YOUR TRUE IDENJTITY.
Check out her website above. It will be worth your effort. She has combined Christian counseling with the importance in faith; i.e., believing what God says.
It depends what you mean by emotions ‘being under one’s control’, some people would say, for example, that someone crying in church is losing control. This is simply not true. They are simply expressing emotion, and expression of emotion does not mean lack of control.
From a psychology student’s perspective, I find your comment interesting. Are emotions ever under control? Can you stop yourself feeling emotions? I doubt it, so I must draw the conclusion you are talking about EXPRESSION of emotions. I think expression of emotions should be encouraged in the church. It should be a safe and loving environment for people to be themselves. We should not be bound by our society’s view of how much expression of emotion is acceptable in public.
As for your comment about emotions ‘running rampant’, the only people who literally can’t control their emotional expression are those with emotion or mental disorders, which are relatively rare, so should not be a major concern in churches.