Why jump?

It is apparent from the posts on all the tagboards and blogs so far that everyone is divided in this issue. But then again, what is the actually issue at hand? To me I see a few things being discussed.

Firstly, whether it is okay to jump during worship.

Secondly, whether it is alright to have a group of “jumpers” to “encourage” those who want to jump, but are afraid to do so, to do so.

Let me start my reply to all the tagboard posts by saying that I’m actually quite disappointed that NO ONE referred to anything Biblical when trying to sort out such a thorny issue. Not one Bible verse appeared.

So; let me address what I think needs to be addressed and can be addressed using a blog. I’ve decided that since this issue has blown up so big; I make an open invitation to whoever is interested to an open debate during the next One Voice bible study on 1 April. And this is not an April Fool’s joke. And we will close the matter there once and for all.

Firstly, is it okay to jump during worship. Short answer, YES.

Long answer:

“And David was dancing with all his might, and David was wearing a linen ephod. So David and all the house of Israel were bringing up the ark of the LORD with shouting and the sound of the trumpet.” 2 Samuel 6:14-15

“You have turned for me my mourning into dancing; You have loosed my sackcloth and girded me with gladness” – Psalms 30:11

“Let them praise His name with dancing; Let them sing praises to Him with timbrel and lyre.” – Psalms 149:3

“Praise Him with timbrel and dancing; Praise Him with stringed instruments and pipe” – Psalm 150:4

The Bible, and especially the book of Psalms a number of verses that talk about praising the Lord with dancing. It was for this reason; I saw a need to begin a dance team under One Voice.

Some of us obviously cannot really dance very well; so we jump as a form of dancing. Fine enough. There is no reason why we cannot dance when we are joyful in the Lord for what He did for us at Calvary. So, jump during worship, there is nothing wrong. If you are sincere about it; I encourage you to do so.

However, admittedly some people will be uncomfortable with such an expression of worship. To me; it is precisely for this reason that there are so many denominations and ways to worship God. Whether it’s through the liturgy (like 9am service) or in a contemporary manner; the ways to corporately worship God have evolved and become so varied; it can suit anyone. And let me jump the gun a little by saying that God isn’t particular to how we worship Him; through dance or singing or by some other means, that’s not what He really wants.

Now that that’s out of the way; let go to the issue that everyone is waiting to hear about. Whether to have a group of “jumpers” to “encourage” those who want to jump, but are afraid to do so, to do so.

Let me start by saying that the opposite of faith is fear.

If someone is afraid that people will laugh at him or her when he or she jumps and succumbs to that fear then that is a display of unfaithfulness. I hope that gives everyone something to think about.

Let’s go back to passage above; the one from 2 Samuel 6 is precisely where the lines “I’ll be come even more undignified than this” comes from. That’s the inspiration for Matt Redman’s “Undignified” which we sang at Fusion; to which Reginald and gang added in some pretty crazy actions.

King David went crazy that day; when the ark was brought into Jerusalem; a linen ephod was like something like the undergarments of that day; King David was literally in his underwear! He went nuts; but did he care about the people staring at him? HE DIDN’T!

Did people ridicule Him? YES THEY DID! In fact; it was his own wife who despised him! That was when David said,

“I will be more lightly esteemed than this and will be humble in my own eyes, but with the maids of whom you have spoken, with them I will be distinguished” – 2 Samuel 6:22

And what happened to his wife? God cursed her to be barren and she died without bearing any children for King David.

I like what Rachel posted, “But you can’t just 'get' jumpers, that's so insincere don't you think? I think you should just make sure those who want to be enthusiastic for God have the courage to do so. Me for instance!”

And she overcame her fear didn’t she?

Courage is not the lack of fear; but the ability to overcome fear. And how do you do that? With faith. If you are afraid that people are going to laugh at you; then know that your dance offering will be honoured by God; and the laughter of those who mock you will receive their due from God; just like David’s wife.

There is a flip side to just dancing before the Lord; and this part is between you and God. God is the only one (besides yourself) who knows if you are really dancing for Him; or for the sake of showing off.

“I hate, I reject your festivals nor do I delight in your solemn assemblies. Even though you offer up to Me burnt offerings, I will not accept them; And I will not even look at the peace offerings of your fatlings. Take away from Me the noise of your songs; I will not even listen to the sound of your harps. But let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.” – Amos 5:21-24

God is pretty angry in this passage don’t you think? Why? Reading my study Bible; it was mainly because Israel had been unfaithful to God. And if you continue reading that passage above; you will realise that when the Israelites were wondering in the dessert for 40 years, while they claimed to “worship God”, they also carried around idols of other gods.

What do we carry around as idols during corporate musical worship?

If I were to ask all of you this question I can predict answers like, “Homework lah, parents lah, money lah… etc etc”

Let me tell you what I think is an idol nowadays. The songs themselves.

Why the songs? Because a lot of us have a “favourite worship song” and when the song comes up during worship we get very excited and tend to be a bit more “enthusiastic”. I’ve led the song “running after you” twice in my life. Both time; when the intro is being played, I hear a loud, “WOO HOO!!!” from the congregation of youth. Why? Favourite song right? Easy to jump to right?

We have made the songs our idols; the lyrics, the 8th-beat clapping, the weird clapping timing (like after the bridge of “One Way”), the actions (like “This is how we overcome” or “Pharaoh Pharaoh”). What happens? We sometimes tend to concentrate more on the clapping and the lyrics etc rather than God. No wonder God “rejects” the “noise of our songs”.

I rather have 1000 youths who are sincerely stoning away than 1 youth who is jumping up and down but doing so insincerely.

So; to those who “want to jump but afraid to jump”. The onus lies on you to overcome your fear rather than a group of “encouragers”; this is church not the National Day Parade. We worship the Audience of One rather than being a “mass participation audience”.

And to those who want to “jump for the sake of jumping”. Think again. The Bible says God will not honour your sacrifice of praise. Better for you to sincerely stone away and contemplate with God first before you think of jumping again.

So in short, should we have a group of jumpers to encourage us to jump? I rather be encouraged by the songs we sing and the musical offerings we raise to God as acts of genuine worship.

This is my personal answer to the original questions that were brought up. However, many other smaller issues were raised in all the posts. I will attempt to address them in other posts. Unmoderated comments enabled.