Clap Your Hands, All You People!

Clap Your Hands...

“O clap your hands, all you people; shout unto God with the voice of triumph.” (Psalms 47:1)

OK, so I’m quoting it out of context. It really doesn’t refer to the subject at hand. What I am referring to is the clapping of hands in church after someone has sung or played an instrumental piece. This is a custom of modern origin, being popular no more than about 35 to 40 years.

Ostensibly we attend church services to worship God. Then, when someone sings or plays a musical selection, we clap for them. This ought not to be.

George Santayana said: "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." One of the great failings of Americans is their ignorance of history. Christians are even more guilty. Clapping in churches was a problem 'way back in the latter part of the fourth century. Then it was not singers that got the applause, but preachers. Philip Schaff, in his History of the Christian Church, writes: "Chrysostom mourns over the theatrical customs, such as loud clapping in applause, which the Christians at Antioch and Constantinople brought with them into the church." — [Philip Schaff, History of the Christian Church, Vol. 3, p 290]. Later, he says, "Pulpit eloquence in the fourth and fifth centuries reached a high point in the Greek church, and is most worthily represented by Gregory Nazianzen and Chrysostom. But it also often degenerated there into artificial rhetoric, declamatory bombast, and theatrical acting. Hence the abuse of frequent clapping and acclamations of applause among the people." [op. cit., p. 367]. A humorous note is appended: "This Greek custom of applauding the preacher by clapping the hands and stamping the feet was a sign of the secularization of the church after its union with the state. It is characteristic of his age that a powerful sermon of Chrysostom against this abuse was most enthusiastically applauded by his hearers!"

What is wrong with clapping? I believe, first of all, that clapping is done to express delight with a performance. Singing in church, no less than preaching, should be an act of worship rather than an exhibition of talent. Special music should draw us closer to the Living God. It should never be entertainment or amusement. The appropriate response should be an "Amen!" or "Praise be to God," or some such similar sentiment. Secondly, clapping for a singer diminishes the glory and praise that is God's alone. Thirdly, at the rate the Christian church is conforming itself to the world, clapping for a good sermon is right around the corner. I hope I don't live to see it.