As the Spirit Moves You
7/24/2024
By The Rev. Kevin Laskowski
I've started saying "as the Spirit moves you..." when leading worship. After pointing out where the service begins in the prayer book, I might say, "Participate as the Spirit moves you." When leading the Prayers of the People, before the Eucharistic prayer, or, at the post-Communion prayer, I might say something like, "Standing or kneeling, as the Spirit moves you, let us pray." I thought I'd explain why.
I grew up as a Roman Catholic, in a tradition that was very specific about how you participated. You read your lines, spoke the traditional responses, sang the appropriate parts at the appropriate times, and were otherwise silent. You knelt to pray. You stood to sing. You sat to listen.
On the one hand, this is simply orderly worship, and that's important. As Scripture says, "God is a God not of disorder but of peace...all things should be done decently and in order" (1 Corinthians 14:33, 40). If everyone just does whatever they feel like, the assembly is not formed as the Body of Christ. We're just assorted limbs flailing about in search of attention and comfort. Spiritual "calisthenics"--kneeling, standing, sitting--have value. Bodies can witness to, and take the posture of, the task at hand. We kneel to pray because perhaps we should be on our knees before our Maker. We stand to sing not only to sing well but maybe because we should stand confidently when singing with the angels and the saints. We sit to listen because maybe, as disciplined disciples, we should be quiet and paying attention.
But what if you can't?
- What if you can't stand for long periods of time or kneel comfortably for any length of time? What are you supposed to do? Should those with mobility difficulties just stay home? Some say, "Kneel as you're able," which is fine. But, then, everyone who can kneel must kneel, encouraging the kind of judgment that polices those who use disabled parking to see if they're truly disabled, whatever that means.
- And what if you're a kid? And you can't sit still, and you can't keep quiet, or you just don't know what to do? Are children to be exiled from church until they can "behave?" Children's chapels can teach many things, but one thing they can teach is that children don't belong in church. Mind you, St. John's has a nursery and a children's chapel. That's one reason why we read a children's story in church before kids leave for age-appropriate activities, to kind of split the difference. And, another thing: crying babies aren't a problem; they're a welcome sign, among many, of a growing church.
- Or what if, you're just having an awful day, and you just need to sit and be in church without being judged, without being tasked with this or that? What if you just don't want to kneel today? Or what if you're having an amazing day, and you want to kneel and give thanks but not only when you're supposed to? What if you want to shout "Amen" in the middle of a sermon? What if, when singing, you want to clap? What if you can't keep from singing?
- And who gets to decide all this? Sandwiched in between the lines I quoted from St. Paul's letter to the Corinthians are his infamous lines about how women aren't supposed to speak in church (1 Corinthians 14:34-35). In his mind, orderly worship required women's silence. In a tradition where women not only speak in church but are ordained in the church, we should hold ideas about what's supposed to happen in church lightly. Such ideas often have the effect, even the purpose, of excluding some voices in a faith where there shouldn't be such divisions (Galatians 3:28).
What if bodies, what if people, are valuable in and of themselves and not only for what they do or represent?
There are all kinds of good reasons to depart from traditional responses and calisthenics. So, when leading worship, I've gone from giving instructions, to saying, "as you're able," to now saying "as the Spirit moves you." We should worship as God moves us and not only how tradition says or everyone else does.
I want to leave room for the entire household of God (Ephesians 2:19, 1 Timothy 3:15), for all people in all kinds of different situations and circumstances, to be moved. I want to leave room for the Spirit, for God in Jesus Christ, to do something different among us. I want to leave room for God's grace. I'm confident that there will be enough people doing what they're "supposed to do" that worship will be orderly enough. The question for me is: Will we worship as we're moved and not only as we're told? And so I pray that you worship "as the Spirit moves you."
