Physical Expressiveness in Worship, 2

Last week I finally came right out and said it: a bald appeal for our whole congregation to respond to God in worship with every part of their being—mind, heart, and body—with an unapologetic emphasis on the body. I’m emphasizing the body notbecause it is more important than the other parts of our being, but because it is sometimes more neglected, especially in our worship meetings. Since the Bible commends expressing worship with our bodies (which has been the subject of the last several columns), and since we intend to be a church that is “Bible based,” it’s a topic worth reflecting on together. Plus, there are several other reasons for physical expressiveness in corporate worship.

First, God is glorified by our physical expressiveness. When God’s glory elicits a response from every part of our being, we magnify His worth more than if our response is always restricted to certain aspects of our being. To illustrate, when I express my affection for my wife by holding her hand, I magnify her worth more than if I just serve her by walking through the mall with her. Both forms of love signal her worth; combined, they do so more powerfully. Our responses to God ought to be gauged by His worthiness, not our own image, preferences, or the actions of others around us.

Second, our body and our soul are inseparably linked. Our body responds to what our soul feels—for example, greeting someone at the airport with a joyful hug, celebrating a touchdown with shouts and fist pumps, or honoring an outstanding performance with spontaneous applause. In a healthy individual, heart, mind, will, and body all work together as God designed: one integrated personality. It would be strange indeed if our worship services were the one place where our bodies were forbidden to express what our minds are comprehending and our hearts are feeling.

It is worth noting that this soul-body connectedness works both ways. Sometimes our body responds to what our heart feels, and sometimes our heart responds to what our body does. In other words, we can encourage our own heart to feel something more deeply by expressing ourselves physically. This is one of the great benefits of physical expression in corporate worship.

The relentless barrage of exhortation on this topic will continue next week. Stay tuned!