Letters to the editor

Mennonite Brethren Herald welcomes your letters on issues relevant to the Mennonite Brethren Church, especially in response to material published in the Herald. Please keep your letters courteous, brief and about one subject only. We will edit letters for length and clarity. We will not publish letters sent anonymously, although we may withhold names from publication at the request of the letter writer and at our discretion. Publication is also subject to space limitations. Because the Letters column is a free forum for discussion, it should be understood that letters represent the position of the letter writer, not necessarily the position of the Herald or the Mennonite Brethren Church. Send letters to: Letters, MB Herald 1310 Taylor Ave. Winnipeg, Man.  R3M 3Z6 or send via e-mail. (Please ensure that your postal address is included in your e-mail correspondence.)

Freedom to worship

Re the June 13 letter critiquing dancing and clapping of hands.

I disagree with the writer’s assertion that dancing and hand clapping are “nothing more than conformity to the world” (Romans 12:2). What standard is he using to make that judgement? When Paul tells us not to conform to the pattern of this world he is cautioning us not to buy into the worldviews or the value systems of secular culture.

I have never heard a solid biblically-based case against expressive forms of praise. However, the Scriptures are full of exhortations to worship God with instruments and dancing. Even when we discount David’s naked dancing incident as a proof text for dancing, he still encourages the people to dance as an act of praise. Psalm 149:3 says “Let them praise his name with dancing;” Psalm 150:4 “praise him with tambourine and dancing.” Psalm 113:1–3; 150:1, 149:3 all use the Hebrew word “halal” for praise. “Halal” means “to be clear, to shine, to boast, show, to rave, celebrate, to be clamorously foolish”. In the New Testament, the Greek word “agalliao” is used in Luke 10:21, 1 Peter 1:6, and Revelation 19:7 and means “to jump for joy, to leap, to exult.”

Here are Scriptures blessing and exhorting worshippers of God to dance, celebrate, rave, be clamorously foolish, shout with triumph and throw our hands up in the air in praise, to clap our hands and leap for joy, all in praise of our great God. And yet these things are condemned in our churches today. Shouldn’t that strike us as odd?

Has dancing been misused and perverted by our culture? Yes. Has dancing in church been used by some as a means to simply make church more contemporary? Yes. But these are heart issues. The very sacrifices of Israel became a stench in God’s nostrils when they were done with an impure heart. Dancing, like art and music, is a form of human expression and can be done with a pure heart in praise of God.

If we are going to condemn fellow brothers and sisters in Christ who want to praise their Creator in this way, then let us offer a sound biblical case against it instead of just reacting to what makes us feel uncomfortable. Until that happens, I suggest that we stop this divisive argument and let people worship with a little more freedom.

Jason Rekker,
St. Catharines, Ont.

Scripture still basis

Thank you for the issue on stressing the Word of God. I would like to affirm Stephen Mortley for the courage he had to write, “Tell me the stories of Jesus”. This is what I have been feeling. We need to hear this and to act on it.

The article is what our beloved teacher, Nick Willems, taught us in homiletics at Bethany Bible Institute. He had us prepare sermons, then deliver them in front of the class, and had our classmates critique our performance. This was a good learning experience.

I appreciate what the other writers have said on this subject as well.

There is one wish I have for all our pastors, that each one had a copy of Halley’s Bible Handbook. It is so helpful, especially the section at the back of the book entitled “The Most Important Thing in this Book.” There are some amazing, yet very simple principles given for churches and pastors.

Charles Price, the current pastor of People’s Church of Toronto said that their church people read through the Bible from their pulpit this winter. It took 500 people reading 10 minutes each, 82 hours or four days. He also said that if you read one chapter of the Bible a day, it takes 4 years to read through; but by then you have also read the New Testament through twice.

Jesus said, “My Word will not pass away.” What a blessed promise. I pray it will be the lamp to guide and encourage us to light the world around us as individuals and as churches.

Lena Bergen Friesen,
Waterloo, Ont.

Errors corrected

In your coverage of the B.C. MB Conference convention (June 13), you gave the name of our new church in Delta, B.C. as “New Hope Community Church”. There is a church by that name within the B.C. Conference, but the name of our church in Delta is “New Hope Christian Church.

Alan Chattaway,
Surrey, B.C.

In your report on the Saskatchewan MB Conference convention (May 2) you wrote, “New pastors will be assigned a mentor, and a cell phone will be given to them so they can call the mentor at any time.” It should have read, “A mentor will be assigned, and phone expenses will be subsidized so they can call the mentor at any time.”

Clarence Peters,
Waldheim, Sask.

Editor’s Note: We apologize for the errors.