The word "celebration" has become a naughty (wicked! bad! evil!) word in Adventist circles. It constitutes, for many, the new buzzword for expressing displeasure with almost any change in church worship practice. If you want to discredit a pastor, just whisper in sepulchral tones that he has begun a celebration church. Images of boisterous, Pentecostal, tongues-speaking men and women leap into the minds of many people. Some churches have gone so far as to refuse to subscribe to Celebration! magazine, the official publication of the North American Division Church Ministries Department, merely because of its name.
"But didn't Ellen White caution against shouting, drums, dancing, and a bedlam of noise in worship services?" some inquire. Yes, she did, but she certainly didn't mean that in and of them selves drums, music, dancing, and sound are wrong.
Meaning of "celebration"
Webster's New World Dictionary defines "to celebrate" as "to honor or praise publicly" or "to mark (a happy occasion) by engaging in some pleasurable activity." Many who criticize the so-called celebration churches forget, or never knew, that this celebrative, happy, joyful type of service is common in Black and Hispanic churches. People often do not distinguish between what is cultural and what is absolute. Many things, in themselves, have no moral significance. It is their association with other elements that brings them into disrepute.
For example, in a church I once pastored I planned to light candles as part of an evening Communion service. When I turned out the lights I almost started a riot. I had to blow out the candles and switch back on the electric lights. Members felt that candlelight alone was too Catholic and too dark. "The devil dwells in darkness, God in light," some intoned.
Dancing in worship
Nowhere does the Bible map out a specific order of service; nowhere does it list in one passage all the elements of worship. But the style of worship it does depict differs considerably from that of the average Caucasian congregation.
In fact, those who criticize the celebration churches would be scandalized by the worship of Bible times. Not only did God call for singing, praying, and reading of the Word as part of worship, but He also called for dancing: "Let them praise his name with dancing and make music to him with tambourine and harp" (Ps. 149:3).* "Praise him with tambourine and dancing, praise him with the strings and flute" (Ps. 150:4). Both Miriam and David danced before the Lord as an expression of their joy and trust in Him (Ex. 15:20; 2 Sam. 6:14).
I find it fascinating to observe that we condemn what the Bible expressly commands as part of worship. We associate dancing with immorality and worldliness, forgetting that it has had good and even spiritual connotations. While there are evil types of dancing, there are also types that express the emotions and creativity of the mind and body.
Ellen White and instruments
The writers of the Psalms usually associated dancing with dramatic music. While they did mention stringed instruments, it is the percussion instruments—tambourine and cymbals—that receive the emphasis. Imagine a church service today patterned after Psalm 150, "praising God with voice, trumpet, harp, lyre, tambourine, dancing, strings, flute, and resounding cymbals."
The opponents of the celebration churches rely heavily on Ellen White's denunciation of the use of musical instruments in the Indiana holy flesh experience. Yet it was not the fact that they used musical instruments that she condemned, but the way in which they used them. Her particular concern was the "bedlam of noise" that "shocks the senses and perverts that which if conducted aright might be a blessing."1
What did Ellen White mean by this "bedlam of noise"? The compilers of Selected Messages inserted an editorial note at the beginning of the section that contains Ellen White's comments on the Indiana scene. In that note they say that musical instruments played an important part in working the people up to a high pitch: "They sought a physical demonstration and shouted and prayed and sang until someone in the congregation would fall, prostrate and unconscious, from his seat. One or two men, walking up and down the aisle for the purpose, would drag the fallen person up on the rostrum. Then about a dozen individuals would gather around the prostrate body, some singing, some shouting, and some praying, all at the same time." 2
On September 25, 1900, S. N. Haskell wrote the following to Ellen White: "There is a great power that goes with the movement. It would almost bring anybody within its scope . . . be cause of the music that is brought to play in the ceremony. They have an organ, one bass viol three fiddles, two flutes, three tambourines, three horns, and a big bass drum, and perhaps other instruments which I have not mentioned.
They are as much trained in their musical line as any Salvation Army choir that you ever heard. In fact, their revival effort is simply a complete copy of the Salvation Army method, and when they get on a high key, you cannot hear a word from the congregation in their singing, nor hear anything, unless it be shrieks of those who are half insane. I do not think I overdraw it at all."3
So the "bedlam of noise" consisted of disorder (various people singing, talking, praying, all at the same time), singing from the choir so loud no one in the congregation could be heard, and the instruments dominating rather than accompanying.
Maybe we would not be so divided to day if, rather than overreacting to the employment of musical instruments, we had followed Ellen White's counsel as to their use. She strongly advocated the benefits of all kinds of instruments in worship.
"In our camp meeting services there should be singing and instrumental music. Musical instruments were used in religious services in ancient times. The worshipers praise God upon the harp and cymbal, and music should have its place in our services. It will add to the interest."4
Don't oppose use of instruments
Not only did Ellen White advocate the use of instruments; she explicitly stated that we are not to oppose their use: "In the meetings held, let a number be chosen to take part in the song service. And let the singing be accompanied with musical instruments skillfully handled. We are not to oppose the use of instrumental music in our work. This part of the service is to be carefully conducted; for it is the praise of God in song."5
In supporting the use of instruments, Ellen White often referred to the practice in Bible times: "Let the talent of singing be brought into the work. The use of musical instruments is not at all objectionable. These were used in religious services in ancient times. The worshipers praised God upon the harp and cymbal, and music should have its place in our services. It will add to the interest."6
When Ellen White traveled in Europe, she requested that a young lady sing, with guitar accompaniment, at one of the worship services.7 In one of her talks at the 1905 General Conference session she said, "I am glad to hear the musical instruments that you have here. God wants us to have them. He wants us to praise Him with heart and soul and voice, magnifying His name before the world."8
Adventists are not the only ones who fear the use of instruments. Other Protestant groups heirs of the Radical Reformation banned all use of instruments in worship. I well remember worshiping in the Knox Free Presbyterian Church in Perth, Scotland. There the congregation sang without any musical accompaniment.
Zwingli also opposed the playing of the organ; in the cantons of Switzerland zealous people destroyed many fine organs. It is only within the past 100 years that organs have even begun to reappear in some of those churches.
The pendulum swings
I wonder what an Adventist worship service incorporating all the elements we have discussed would look and sound like. Too many Adventists worship God only with their intellect and wall off their emotions. We are so afraid of the charismatic renewal that we swing to the opposite extreme and deny our emotions altogether. While we should avoid emotionalism, we need to express emotion—passion, feeling, fervor—in our worship of God.
Yet, at least in White churches, we prohibit almost all expression of feelings. Though the Bible says to lift up one's hands in prayer and in worship (see 1 Tim. 2:8; Neh. 8:6), we permit this only for the minister's pronouncement of a benediction and not for the congregation's expression of their feelings. Many churches are discovering that our Puritan heritage has saddled us with negative as well as positive elements in our worship of God.
In their desire to incorporate more emotional elements in the service some may swing too far in the other direction. Mistakes may be made. We must have patience and ask ourselves whether our protests come from a biblical or a cultural base.
Some have requested that Ministry speak against the celebration churches. We cannot for at least two reasons. First, for many people the typical Adventist worship service in the White culture is no longer relevant. Change is necessary. Second, so far as we are aware, no conference administrator has prohibited these forms of worship. We have confidence in our leaders.
Perhaps the bigger issue really concerns our theology of worship or our lack of one. That Adventists have neglected developing a theology of worship is strange. I say it is strange, because restoring true worship is an integral part of the first angel's message (Rev. 14:7). Yet the term worship does not even appear as a heading in either the encyclopedia or the sourcebook that are part of our Bible commentary series. No wonder we seem to lack direction in this area! We need to recognize that our focus on the restoration of the seventh day as the Sabbath is only part of what it means to restore true worship.
The counsel Ellen White gave to the delegates at the 1909 General Conference session bears repeating today: "The leaders among God's people are to guard against the danger of condemning the methods of individual workers who are led by the Lord to do a special work that but few are fitted to do. Let brethren in responsibility be slow to criticize movements that are not in perfect harmony with their methods of labor. Let them never suppose that every plan should reflect their own personality."9
Let's praise the Lord with our whole being
* Bible texts in this editorial are from the New Inter national Version.
1. Selected Messages, book 2, p. 36.
2. Ibid., p. 31.
3. Arthur L. White, Ellen G. White: The Early Elmshaven Years (Hagerstown, Md.: Review and Herald Pub. Assn., 1981), p. 102.
4. Testimonies, vol. 6, p. 62.
5. Evangelism, p. 507.
6. Ibid., p. 150.
7. Ellen G. White et al., Historical Sketches of the Foreign Missions of the Seventh-day Adventists (Basle, Switzerland: Imprimerie Polyglotte, 1886), p. 195.
8. Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, June 15, 1905.
9. Testimonies, vol. 9, p. 259.
