Physical Worship – Jumping

Physical Worship – Jumping. 

“Beloved friends, what should be our proper response to God’s marvelous mercies? With eyes wide open to His mercies, here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: I encourage you, as an act of sensible, intelligent worship, to surrender yourselves to God to be His sacred, living sacrifice. Make a decisive dedication of your bodies, presenting all your members and faculties. Take your everyday, ordinary life – your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life – and place it before God as an offering. Live in holiness, experiencing all that delights His heart. This offering of the whole of our lives is a worshipful act that is pleasing to God. And this becomes your genuine expression of spiritual worship.” (Romans 12:1; a weaving together of The Passion Translation, the Message, Philip’s translation, the Amplified Bible, and the New Jerusalem Bible).

Being Physical with Worship. The spiritual and the physical belong together, and are in fact inseparable. We were created as whole beings with a mysterious fusion of body and spirit and soul and body and everything else that constitutes our personhood. Not only that, the Incarnation reveals how important the body is to Creator God. In a sense, the idea, the reality, of God taking on a physical body was actually a spiritual act. We need to make sure we incarnate our worship. So worship of our Creator needs to include the body if we want to worship with our whole selves. Physical acts of worship become meaningless if it is done thoughtlessly, without its intention of worshipping God. But worship is not limited to the nonphysical, the so-called spiritual either, or one is not truly involved fully in the act of worship. As Rev. Josef Ratzinger once wrote in his excellent article, The Theology of Kneeling, “The bodily gesture itself is the bearer of the spiritual meaning, which is worship. Without the heart of worship, the bodily gesture would be meaningless, while the spiritual act itself must of its very nature express itself in the bodily gestures.” So physical gestures are invaluable in the act of worship. They can point to spiritual truths, they can stimulate worshipful acts, and they can enable a fuller expression of awe, lament, adoration and worship. Using the body helps us to put the Gospel message into motion. The movement of one’s body can be a sign that communicates a message… Do you want to signal to God that you submit to Him, that you want to confess to Him, that you adore Him, that you intend to follow Him in trust? There are gestures and postures and movements that can express what is on your heart without any use of words. Body language is vital to spiritual life and expression. In this blog series entitled “Physical Worship,” I will focus on the worshipful use of the body through such gestures and movements as: prostration before God; sitting at the feet of Jesus; standing in respect and oneness; kneeling in submission; walking in order to follow; running the good race; jumping for joy; lifting up the heart and hands; offering the kiss of peace;; and the act of crossing oneself with the sign of the Cross. This is important: Physical postures and actions during worship reflect the attitudes of the heart, but they can also help produce the attitudes of the heart.

“Have mercy upon me and be gracious to me, O Lord; consider how I am afflicted by those who hate me, that I may show forth all your praises! In the gates of the daughters of Zion I will rejoice with high spirits (giyl) in your salvation and your saving help.” (Psalm 9:13-14).

When I was a mere lad in my pre-school years, my no-nonsense Swedish immigrant grandmother never felt obligated to correct her very strong Swedish accent when speaking English. There were times when I wondered what she was talking about. One phrase she would say occasionally stumped me at the time, “yumping for yoy.” I couldn’t get my little undeveloped brain around that phrase, until one time it dawned on me. I noticed she kept referring to my two older brothers as “Yimmy” and “Yacky.” Aha! I now realized she was saying “jumping for joy” all this time. I have loved that phrase ever since, and consider it a family memory for the archives. Little did I know then that jumping for joy was the literal meaning of that word I heard in church all the time… Rejoice!

Rejoice #1 – Greek word, “agalliao” – literally means jump for joy; excessive gladness; skipping with delight; joy multiplied; great exultation; leaping with exuberance; often expressed verbally as well (as in Acts 2:26, “My tongue was very glad!“); the joy is usually based on God, His character, and His benefits.

Rejoice #2 – Greek word, “chairo” – rejoice; a calmer cheerfulness; a delightful gladness and joy. Chairo is the root word for the Greek word “charis,” which is grace, and the joy and pleasure that comes from an experience of grace.

Rejoice #3 – Hebrew word in the Hebrew Bible, “giyl” or “yagel” – literally means to spin around in joy; to greatly rejoice; to be exceedingly glad. It is used about 45 times in the Old Testament, and is the usual word for “rejoice.”

There are four passages in particular that use the term “agalliao” in the New Testament. To know that this word means jump for joy adds a lot of personality and delight to these passages:

(1.)  Jesus Jumped for Joy. When the seventy appointed missionaries returned from their journeys, Jesus received them in a wonderful way. “In that same hour, Jesus rejoiced (agalliao) in the Holy Spirit and said, I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have concealed these things relating to salvation from the wise and understanding and learned, and revealed them to babes – the unskilled and untaught. Yes, Father, for such was Your gracious will and good pleasure.” (Luke 10:21).

(2.)  Mother Mary Jumped for Joy.  After her cousin Elizabeth exulted in Mary’s supernatural pregnancy, Mary was overjoyed as she exclaimed, “My soul magnifies and extols the Lord, and my spirit rejoices (apalliao) in God my Savior!” (Luke 1:46-47).

(3.)  Unborn Baby John the Baptist Jumps for Joy in His Mother’s Womb. When the pregnant Elizabeth approaches her pregnant cousin Mary, look at what happens!  “Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. And she cried out with a loud cry, and then exclaimed, Blessed above all other women are you, Mary! And favored of God is the Fruit of your womb! And how have I deserved that this honor should be granted to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me! For listen, the instant the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb jumped for joy (apallaio)!” (Luke 1:42-44).

(4.)  The Healed Man Jumped for Joy in the Temple. In the Temple, no less! “Then Peter took hold of the man’s right hand with a firm grip and raised him up. And at once his feet and ankle bones became strong and steady. And leaping forth he stood and began to walk, and he went into the Temple with Peter and John, walking and leaping and praising God (apallaio)!” (Acts 3:7-8).

A Greek word for a more calm act of rejoicing is “chairo.“This term isn’t any less intense of a joy, it is not less joyful, but it looks like it isn’t quite so physically expressive. This Greek term is the root word for the significant Greek word of “charis,” which means grace and undeserved favor. Those two words together mean the particular joy that comes from experiencing God’s grace, mercy and favor. These passages with “chairo” are fascinating in light of that.

(1.)  The Three Wise Men are Overjoyed with God’s Grace. When they had listened to the king they went their way, and lo, the star which had been seen in the East in its rising went before them until it came and stood over the place where the young Child was. When they saw the star, they were thrilled with ecstatic joy and rejoiced (chairo).” (Matthew 2:9-10).

(2.)  Those Who are Persecuted are Overjoyed with God’s grace. This is not logical in the world’s eyes, but it nonetheless is filled with God wisdom and truth. “Blessed are you when people despise you, and exclude you, and revile you, and denounce you, and spurn your name as evil on account of the Son of Man. Rejoice and be glad at such a time, exult and leap for joy (chairo), for behold your reward is rich and great and abundant in heaven.” (Luke 6:22-23).

(3.)  We are encouraged to be Overcome with Joy because of God’s Grace. St. Paul was full of the Holy Spirit, and dearly wants us to exult in God’s undeserved favor over us. “Rejoice (chairo) in the Lord always – Gladden yourselves in Him, delight in God. And again I emphasize, Rejoice!” (Philippians 4:4).

In the Hebrew Bible, the term “giyl” is much the same as the New Testament’s sense of a delightful physical expression of joy. One can easily imagine David swirling and spinning like a top in front of the Ark. (1 Chronicles 15).

(1.)  David Overcome with Joy. Once again, here is David exulting before the Lord. “I have trusted in your mercy and am confident in your lovingkindness, Lord; my heart shall rejoice (giyl) and be in high spirits in your salvation. I will sing to the Lord, because He has dealt bountifully with me.”  (Psalm 13:5-6).

(2.)  A Psalmist Exults in Joy before God.  How is this for an interesting combination of actions before our Lord in worship? “Serve the Lord with reverent awe and worshipful fear; rejoice in high spirits (giyl), with trembling before Him.” (Psalm 2:11).

(3.)  Creation Itself is Overcome with Joy. There is no doubt that all the aspects of created nature praises God in their own special way. Worship Him with reverent fear, all the peoples of the earth; the world also shall be established so it cannot be moved. Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice (giyl), and let all people say among the nations, ‘The Lord reigns!’ Let the sea roar, and all the things that fill it; let the fields rejoice (giyl), and all that is in them. Then shall the trees of the wood sing out for joy before the Lord.” (1 Chronicles 16:30-33). 

(4.)  God Rejoices Over Each of Us. “The Lord your God is living among you. He is a mighty Savior, a warrior who brings triumph. He will rejoice over you, taking delight in you with gladness. He will quiet you with His love, renewing you, soothing you, and calming your fears. He will exult over you, dancing with joyful songs as in the day of festival.”  (Zephaniah 3:17).

It doesn’t get any better than Handel’s Messiah. This glorious song brings us back to this article’s opening passage in Psalm 9.

Renee Fleming sings “Rejoice greatly” Messiah by Handel – YouTube