Ever noticed the fire in the hearts of the faithful gathered at the churches of some of our protestant brothers and sisters? They sing at the top of their lungs, cry, arms up, shout “Amen!”
Why don’t you see that at our church? A big part of it is what we call an idiom. The culture of our worship doesn’t happen to include charismatic praise. It doesn’t mean it is inappropriate, but if there were one guy in the middle of church during Mass crying and shouting “Amen” it would be a little jarring. Since we’re the unified Body of Christ, we praise most effectively together, in the same way.
Our idiom of praise is a little different. We have prescribed readings and prayers and many of them have a complementary response. “Thanks Be to God,” “Lord Have mercy,” and “Lord, hear our Prayer” for example. All of these are examples of our worship. The more exuberance we use to vocalize these responses, the closer we get to praise.
See, God (in all Three Divine Natures of the Holy Trinity) wants to hear when we call Him. He also wants us to be unashamed enough of the Gospel so that we don’t think twice about singing, or praying in front of the rest of His Children, believers or not.
Any of you who have been to the High School Youth Conference have seen the exuberant praise and worship idiom meet the fullness of the Catholic Faith. You’ll have another chance to see that tonight, and again on Thursday at XLT.
Like the one-knobbed door we always reference, Christ isn’t going to push himself into your heart and let the Holy Spirit lead you in Praise. You have to be open, you have to be seeking, and you have to be loving.
If Bryan stands up front singing songs alone, you’re not gonna get it. If you join in, you’ll experience something that can’t be explained and can’t be taught.
Stand together in praise.
February 8th, 2007 | Uncategorized