Better Than A Hallelujah

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rm5kx3xqmg0&ob=av2n
***DISCLAIMER!*** For all you MPC, former or present, folks who enjoy this blog, I am in no way attempting to criticize worship there 30+ years ago...just using my child's mind to express how I felt then...
Growing up in my church, I was regulated to the standard 3-4 hymns and polite silence during the sermon. During the summers when we'd visit my grandparents and attend their church, there might be a hymn or two but they also sang choruses with a bit more "pep"...sermons might be punctuated with a hearty "Amen!" I kinda learned to accept this as 2 different ways to express worship but if an occasional hand was raised in my home church!? As a younger person this unnerved me! It was weird! Inwardly it made me uncomfortable. "Put your hand down! We don't do that here!" I'd keep peeking at the hand raiser, willing them by the power of my mind to just follow the MPC rules and do what everyone else did. Sheesh!
When I was in high school, my church borders were expanded significantly. I attended services in Mexico and Jackson, Mississippi. There was hooting and hollering, songs that went on for 20 minutes, tears and anguished cries for redemption...and it seemed...more...real...? Honest? Less "polite"...?
College brought a whole new world...I fell among the "Amen"ers, the hand raisers, I became a spontaneous clapper during a sermon if I was so moved, I cried a lot.
About 2 years ago Amy Grant came out with a song called "Better Than a Hallelujah" (YouTube link I hope I posted correctly). It talks about the different ways expressions of the heart reach the Lord and how, sometimes, they are better than the standard worship, the collective "Hallelujah!" of a congregation or choir. I hadn't considered this before but I agree. I'm not a huge fan of The Message paraphrase of the Bible but I like the way they put Psalm 34:17-18:
"17 Is anyone crying for help? God is listening, ready to rescue you.
18 If your heart is broken, you'll find God right there;
if you're kicked in the gut, he'll help you catch your breath".
I hope that there aren't any folks who feel like I did as a youngster in church...that if so moved, they feel they can't raise a hand, shed a tear, cry out, "Amen!" from a heart overwhelmed with joy, grief, remorse, brokenness...in church, on the street, in their car, in Shoprite. "Honest cries of breaking hearts..." I think that churches can sometimes cripple how we respond to God outside of their walls. I attended a church in college (only because I was getting paid to sing there on a weekly basis) that was so sterile and cold...It was a "see and be seen" congregation (in my opinion), very $$$, everyone had "their seat"...being in the front of the church in the choir pews I had the opportunity to study faces during the standard 15 minute-read-from-the-page sermon every week. Blank expressions, "I wonder where we'll have lunch when this is over", "I can't believe Starla Anderson wore that jacket in May" looks...Was anyone moved? Did anyone DARE show it if that were so? Perhaps they were...I longed for something to break the silence...
Adding to my disclaimer, this is all Jen's opinion. It's not meant to serve as what is "right"...just food for thought. I think the most powerful part of the song is the line that talks about " a drunkards cry". I am surrounded by broken people all day, many who are chronic homeless, alcoholics, Vets, etc. And I have been a part of the Missions chapel services where they have been moved to tears by the Word...and I agree that that is better than a "hallelujah" any day...