My friend Lindsey's daughter Emma is serving a Spanish-speaking mission in Minnesota. I'm on her email list, so I get to hear all about her amazing experiences as she serves the people with her whole heart and tells anyone who wants to know about the Savior and His redeeming love and transforming grace.
This morning, as I was prepping this week's "Come Follow Me" lesson, I jotted a note to Emma, as I try to do every couple of weeks. I've sent three missionaries, and I know how much they appreciate hearing from friends. That said, I've been told by my own returned missionaries that the letters I write to Emma are TOO long! "Mom, she doesn't have time to read all that!" Okay, I'll try to write shorter emails. It's just that when I get started talking about Jesus and how he's the coolest person ever, I get a bit carried away.
Anyway, I was writing to Emma about this week's Sunday School lesson, which includes one of my favorite chapters in the Book of Mormon: Mosiah 18. Here, Alma gathers folks and teaches them privately. He has escaped from the wicked King Noah and repented of his sins, but he sorta has a bounty on his head, so he flees to a place called Mormon, which is known to be surrounded by wild beasts. Here he can teach in secret, I'm guessing because most people don't want to go to a place with wild beasts!
By the waters of Mormon, Alma teaches the best sermon about the baptismal covenant I've ever read--what it actually means to be a covenant person, to do the very work of Jesus. And every single item on Alma's list is outward reaching. It's about relationship, and how as covenant people, we're called to a holier way, to bear one another's burdens, comfort those who need comfort, mourn with those who mourn, and stand as a witness of God to others (Mosiah 18:8-9).
And then comes my very favorite verse in the whole chapter: Verse 11: "And now when the people had heard these words, they clapped their hands for joy, and exclaimed: This is the desire of our hearts.
Wow!! These guys were so excited and so anxious to make this covenant and to follow Jesus that they literally clapped their hands for joy!
I find myself asking, "Why don't we clap in church?" Keep in mind, I'm a convert to the LDS religion; I didn't grow up there. So when I hear a beautiful hymn sung by someone with the loveliest voice, and both the words and the music reach down to my innermost soul, it's my natural response to want to clap for joy. And gratitude.
Alas, I refrain.
Our church culture (though not doctrine) discourages clapping in sacrament meeting. I've heard it explained that this policy helps us maintain reverence in our meetings. But I wonder, does it really? I guess that depends on how you define reverence. For some, reverence equals quiet, and clapping is not quiet. This is logical; it's just not my own experience. I could clap my hands in joy and gratitude and still be perfectly reverent. But that's just me.
I've also heard that we can't hear God's voice or feel the Spirit unless it's totally quiet. Clearly, there are references that imply this, including in 1 Kings 19:12, where the Spirit is described as a "still small voice." However, my favorite references to the Spirit are not still or small, and definitely not quiet, for example in Acts 2 on the Day of Pentecost, when the Spirit pours out as "a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting." We live in Bluffdale, where it is almost always windy. Sometimes when I'm out walking, the wind is so strong and so loud that it nearly knocks me over! I love to think that in those times, the Spirit is making God's presence known to me.
God is made manifest to humans in countless ways, because Jesus meets us exactly where we are. Sometimes policies and culture can blur with doctrine; it's easy to confuse which is which. It's like when I hear the sweet moms whisper to their children "Fold your arms," when a prayer is coming. For them, this is a way to show reverence. Arm folding for prayer is part of the culture of our church, and there is nothing wrong with it, but it's not doctrine. I never fold my arms to pray, yet I know God hears and loves my prayers as much as anyone's. I also don't have to be silent in order to hear God or experience the Spirit in worship.
So, Hermana Mecham, "Go ye into all the world [especially Minnesota!], and preach the gospel to every creature" (Mark 16:15). Share with everyone the goodness of God; bear pure testimony of the healing power of the Savior, Jesus Christ. Invite all to partake of baptism, that they might enter into a covenant relationship with Him, inheriting all our Heavenly Parents have.
And when they recognize just how beloved they are, and desire with all their hearts to take the first step on the covenant journey, yes....
I hope they clap!
