DECEMBER 2015

GUEST column
Praise and worship are both legitimate
It seems of late there has
been a debate about
what is worship and
what is praise — whether
certain types of “loud” worship
are truly acceptable or
are they simply emotional
tirades towards God? Some
of the reasons that bring
about this debate is Christian
music that is being
sold like secular music and
yet being used in private
prayers, healing services,
prayer gatherings that are called
praise and worship and, at times,
even found in Mass.
This new way of singing in a religious
setting is very different from the
“normal” or traditional means of worship.
Usually, everything new polarizes
opinions where some will hail it
as God-sent and others will consider
it aggressive and an attack on traditional
worship, and therefore bad.
I am reminded of a movie that
came out in ‘70s called Brother Son,
Sister Moon. It was Franco Zeffirelli’s
movie on Francis of Assisi where he
brings out the saint as a sort of a hippie
of his generation — mind you the
movie was done in 1972. In the middle
of the movie, Zeffirelli purposely
shows at the same time an active,
young and lively Francis singing and
praising God with his friends while
the old bishop and nuns were in an
old, austere and rigid form of worship
in silence before the Eucharist. So we
ask: Which is correct?
Before answering the question,
there is another angle to consider.
There is a prevalent understanding
that true means of worship, or even
my way of worshipping, is silent,
calm or at least not overly emotional.
A way that is similar to meditation.
So if loud and emotional is some
people’s way of praying, it is not
mine. But again, that presumes that
it might be legitimate before even
answering the question. Therefore
the question must be asked: Is praise
and worship meditative and calm or
loud and lively? Which of the two is
a legitimate way to pray?
To be able to truly answer the
question, let us first turn to the wisdom
of the scriptures and seek truth,
no matter how uncomfortable it
could be, and also seek the tradition
and wisdom of the Church. The
BISHOP
FRANCIS
KALABAT
SPECIAL TO THE
CHALDEAN NEWS
Holy Spirit has argued and
revealed through both
means, Scripture and Tradition,
that it’s BOTH!
It is a false understanding
that it is an either/or
form of worship. In the
meditative form of worship,
we look towards Mary
and see how she “kept
all these in heart” (Luke
2:19). A beautiful and
wonderful way of allowing
the Word of God to germinate
and take root and then bear
fruit in the silence of the heart or the
calm of the service. Another great
source in the scriptures that brings
this out are the Psalms. Mary, being
the perfect child of Judaism, prayed
every day the Psalms as was the tradition.
These Psalms were also prayed
daily by Jesus (seen in the numerous
times that He prays the Psalms especially
on the Cross), the apostles,
the disciples, the early Church, the
Church throughout history and even
today. What we see, from a meditative
point, Psalms that bring out this
beautiful calmness such as “be still
and know that I am God” (Psalm
46:10). Therefore, there is a great
need to imitate the Church and allow
the Lord to speak to us in calmness
and in silence.
On the other side of the spectrum,
there is also the Biblical evidence
that reveals a loud and emotional
form of worship and we begin
also with the Psalms, the daily prayer
of all the faithful in the Old Testament
and the New Testament and
today. Psalm 98 brings out this form
of worship when King David calls
the people to “shout with joy to the
Lord all the earth; break into song;
sing praise” (Psalm 98:4). Another
example is Psalm 100: “Shout joyfully
to the Lord, all you lands; serve
the Lord with gladness; come before
Him with joyful song” (Psalm 100:1-
2). There are many more, but notice
ECRC’s Ignite the Spirit services may be loud, but they’re also perfectly acceptable.
the words shout, praise, before the
Lord. This is a loud and emotional
praise and worship from the Old
Testament prayed before God in His
Holy Temple.
Another great example of this
loud and emotional praise and worship
can be seen in the last Psalm
150. It is widely understood as the final
fulfillment and destination of all
God’s creation bringing the faithful
to spend eternity in worship of God.
The Psalmist calls out to praise God
in the sanctuary (altar) with loud
instruments in a loud and aggressive
form of worship. The Psalmist calls for
the worship of God with horns, lyres,
dance, tambourines, strings, pipes,
voice and finally crashing cymbals!
Again, this Psalm is seen as a prelude
of the perfect worship of God that
will occur in heaven for all eternity.
In heaven, it is loud and silent, as can
be seen in the book of Revelation
(compare Rev. 4 with 8). In the book
of Isaiah, we notice more loud praise
and worship of God in heaven, as can
be seen in the following vision:
Seraphim were stationed above;
each of them had six wings: with
two they covered their faces, with
two they covered their feet, and
with two they hovered. One cried
out to the other: “Holy, holy,
holy is the LORD of hosts! All
the earth is filled with his glory!”
At the sound of that cry, the
frame of the door shook and the
house was filled with smoke.
Notice the shouts, the shaking
and the “cry” of the angels. Since
our worship here on earth is an image
of the worship of God by the
angels, what occurs there must and
does occur here. This is what Moses
in Exodus was commanded to build
and therefore to worship in like manner
(see Ex. 25:9).
10 CHALDEAN NEWS DECEMBER 2015