Postures in Worship
Posturing is Natural!
More than likely, when you hear the words, “Let’s pray,” you instinctively will do at least one of the following:
- Close your eyes
- Fold your hands
- Bow your head
What you may not have realized is that you have been doing liturgical postures all this time. Children from Christian homes are taught from a young age to close their eyes and fold their hands.
The posture of prayer reinforces the act of prayer. We close our eyes confessing that though we may not see our heavenly Father with our eyes, he is in every way real. We fold our hands to keep ourselves focused on communion with God. We bow our heads in reverence of the Lord. In other words, liturgical posturing as a concept is fairly natural and instinctive if we stop and think about it.
Chironomia: The Art of Posturing**
Ancient Greeks and Romans developed an entire artform of hand and arm gestures called Chironomia that early Christians appropriated in both their practice and artwork for prayer and worship. Each gesture communicated something. Other cultures from around the world have different gesticulations and postures that are a natural part of their communication, whether or not they are codified. Ancient Jewish liturgical posturing also deeply informed early church worship services.
A couple common examples from the early church are worth mentioning:
The Palm of the Righteous was a common hand gesture in the early church that was informed by 1 Timothy 2:8 and the calling of raising holy hands. One who was depicted with one hand raised with their palm facing outwards was known for their sincerity, honesty, and transparency in their faith.
The Orans was another common arm gesture that showed the person in prayer and/or worship raising both hands up with palms outward. The palms could be at chest or face level (which would entail bent elbows) or above their heads (which would entail straightened elbows). The upwardness of the arms represented lifting up one’s soul to God in prayer and worship, and the position of the palms represented open hands receiving grace.
Other common gestures included the hand on the chest, which depicted the heartfelt aspect of prayer and worship.
Posturing is for the Weary Faithful
Importantly, the postures and gestures of prayer and worship were not intended to be signs of the hyper-pious or effulgences of emotions. Rather, they were aids for the weary faithful, like you and me. They were postures of liturgical dependance and a call for help from the Lord. We raise our hands even when our heart and head aren’t in the right place during worship. It is saying, “Father, meet me even when all I can do today is lift up my hands.” They were created by brothers and sisters in the faith of old to help our heads and hearts follow our hands.
Posturing is… Reformed*
Some within and without the Reformed tradition unfortunately have a preconceived notion that Reformed worship and prayer has always been intended to be posture-less. But this is only partly right. The Reformed wing of the Protestant Reformation was responding specifically to the ostentatious and superstitious religious practices of the medieval church of their day. In many cases, the early Reformers employed rhetoric that should not be seen as universally applicable (though some of the later Puritans took it that way).
Surprising to many today, John Calvin was actually a proponent of liturgical posturing and gesturing. As he remarks in his Institutes:
The bodily gestures usually observed in prayer, such as kneeling and uncovering of the head (Calv. in Acts 20:36), are exercises by which we attempt to rise to higher veneration of God. (3.20.33)
Later, Calvin also explains that the Regulative Principle of Worship (a hallmark of Reformed worship practice) does not do away with liturgical posturing, but rather gives credence to it:
Let us take, for example, the bending of the knee which is made in public prayer. It is asked, whether this is a human tradition, which any one is at liberty to repudiate or neglect? I say, that it is human, and that at the same time it is divine. It is of God, inasmuch as it is a part of that decency, the care and observance of which is recommended by the apostle; and it is of men, inasmuch as it specially determines what was indicated in general, rather than expounded. (4.10.30)
Calvin is even more pointed in his commentary on Acts 20:36, where he speaks of liturgical posturing and gestures as aids for worship and prayer:
The inward affection is indeed the chiefest thing in prayer; yet the external signs, as kneeling, uncovering of the head, lifting up of the hands, have a double use; the first is, that we exercise all our members to the glory and worship of God; secondly, that by this exercise our sluggishness may be awakened, as it were. There is also a third use in solemn and public prayer, because the children of God do by this means make profession of their godliness, and one of them doth provoke another unto the reverence of God. And, as the lifting up of the hands is a token of boldness 451 and of an earnest desire, so, to testify our humility, we fall down upon our knees.
Simply put, Calvin not only found godly use for liturgical posturing, but his understanding of the Regulative Principle of Worship assumes posturing is already happening.
Putting Postures into Practice
If you haven’t noticed already, this article has indirectly gone through many of the common resistances to the idea of liturgical posturing.
- We’ve seen that no matter what, we instinctively understand and do posturing in worship and prayer. In fact, putting your hands in your pockets is a liturgical posture as well!
- We’ve seen that posturing is not a recent novelty from charismatic Christian traditions nor just a rote ancient vestige. Gesturing was informed by both Jewish and Gentile practices and was well thought.
- We’ve seen that posturing isn’t for the super-spiritual but for everyday, ordinary Christians like you and me who are weak and weary.
- We’ve seen that, for those of us in Reformed churches, posturing is, well, Reformed! We can’t use “But Reformed…” as a viable reason against posturing.
So, if you’re convinced of liturgical posturing and how it may be a helpful aid for the weary pilgrim in Christ, try putting it into practice in your household (whether that’s just you or many family members). Especially now that many churches around the nation are holding church services exclusively or mainly through livestream due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s a really great time to try out these practices from the safety of your own home. But then again, it’s only as awkward or weird as you make it out to be!
Give one or some of the above-listed postures and gestures in your personal devotions or during corporate worship and see how it affects you.
- * I’m especially grateful for this insightful piece on Calvin’s views on posturing in worship: https://calvinistinternational.com/2015/04/09/calvin-on-posture-in-worship/
- ** https://www.trinityiconographers.org/chironomia-the-language-of-gesture/
