Hrm. So today was Praise and Worship chapel, and when Ardith left the building, she was not very happy.
As a general rule, I don't mind them; there are chapels I enjoy more, but there are also chapels I enjoy a lot less. Unfortunately, today's fell into that last category.
Some of this has to do with my upbringing, no doubt. And some of it surely has to do with the fact that I am very much my father's daughter.
Anyway, on to the fun. All was well and good, we were singing various song that I really don't know at all, and then one of the people in the band got up to speak. I don't know his name; I think I know him by sight, but I wasn't paying much attention, and I couldn't really see all that well due to the whole 'Ardith is much shorter than everyone else' thing.
He started off by asking, essentially, that everyone who had any physical, emotional, or spiritual ailment to raise their hands. I wasn't quite sure what was coming, but I still wasn't paying all that much attention at this point.
Next on the agenda was to read James 5:13-16. At this point, I started paying attention, since that particular passage can be interpreted several different ways, and some lead to quite interesting practices. The passage in question reads as follows, in the NASB:
Is anyone among you suffering? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord; and the prayer offered in faith will restore the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up, and if he has committed sins, they will be forgiven him. Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much.
At this point, I was rather curious as to what was coming next. The speaker then asked everyone who had raised their hands to come forward. Than he asked everyone who thought that God was working in this place, or could work in this place, to come forward to lay hands on them. This would, theoretically, include everyone in the entire building. I did not come forward, not reacting well to such things.
He then proceeded to ask everyone who was still sitting down to pray with them. At this point, I was naturally curious if I was expected to be praying against them if not told to do otherwise.
Reasons this whole episode bothered Ardith:
1. Ardith doesn't like guilt-tripping, ever. This obviously has to do with being closely related to my dad. He hates it too.
2. Ardith particularly doesn't like guilt-tripping when it would seem that the guilt-trip involves absolutely everyone. Why the guilt-trip? Why not just say everyone pray, rather than having people come forward? Seems slightly counter-productive, as you will invariably get those who don't feel 'led' to go forward feeling somewhat... ...well, like they've just been guilt-tripped.
3. The passage in James was quite possibly taken out of context. For starters, you couldn't really argue at all that there were elders of the church present. Unless you were just working out of verse 16, and then why bother reading the rest? And then there's the whole bit about chapters 4 and 5 mostly dealing with repenting from sin.
Clearly, there are different viewpoints. Here's one from Anna.
And a lot of the difference does undoubtedly stem from how charismatic your upbringing is. But that's my take on the whole matter, and I thought I'd share it for discussion's sake.
Posted by Ardith at February 16, 2004 04:36 PM | TrackBack