Expressive Worship

[Afterthought]

Don't forget that the tongue and voice are part of worshipping God with your body. Standing is also an appropriate posture that should be counted as part of worshipping God with the body. Bowing the head and closing the eyes--our typical (though not only) cultural form for prayer even as lifting hands was back in the Old Testament--are also worshipping God with the body in external signs. These are externally expressive and should be viewed as such.

Even so, the key thing with singing is not the voice but that the heart is ordered properly and the singing is done with grace. You could sing well and offer offensive worship to God; you could sing poorly and offer pleasing worship to the Lord; if you seek to sing with grace it is likely the voice will follow to a decent level (especially if you sing acapella) for many, but the heart is the spiritual worship the Lord seeks. Likewise with prayer.

 

[jwithnell]

Falling face-down, lifting eyes, kneeling, lifting hands: the Bible describes all these actions in worship. I've done them in private worship and it would be hard to argue that the motions are wrong in themselves. I don't use these in public worship, aside from lifting hands slightly to receive the benediction, because I am concerned they'd draw attention to myself in a time and place where we are extolling God. I'm not sure how a congregation would change this aside from the direction of the elders.

 

[Travis Fentiman]

There are a lot of historic reformed resources on this topic here:

On Posture & Gestures in Worship​

In general the reformed tended to consider posture and gestures in worship to be circumstances common to human society and actions which are to be ordered by the light of nature, Christian prudence, and the general rules of the Word (WCF 1.6), and hence they have some optionality and flexibility.

 

[therussellhome]

Since this summer, passages about posture in worship have been nagging at me as I encounter them in my private and family worship.

One lesson I took away from Army basic training is the effect of posture. Better to go to the back of the class and stand up than fall asleep. Likewise, I learn better sitting up straight that leaned back in my chair.

Combining those two, should not my worship grow past my Sunday School "fold your hands, bow your heads, and close your eyes"? At a minimum it would lead to less temptation to doze off in private worship. But how else might God use it for my good and His glory?

I am thankful for this thread in answering some of my questions that I hadn't taken the time to ask. May the Holy Spirit use it to get me off my stoic (and sometime larthgic) backside.