WORSHIP TRENDS Some churches drop kneeling in favor of joyful expressions

But others insist on keeping it, calling it a sign of reverence.
WASHINGTON POST
Every Sunday morning at Lord of Life Lutheran Church in Fairfax, Va., more than 200 people gather at the 9:45 service to sing modern hymns led by a pop band and to hear a conversational sermon given from the floor in front of the pulpit by a pastor wearing street clothes.
It's a very different scene at the 8:30 and 11 a.m. services, when the congregants chant responsively from worship books, an organist plays traditional hymns and the same minister, in robe and stole, delivers a formal homily.
Look at the worshipers lined up to take Communion, and you will see a less obvious but perhaps more powerful symbol of the difference between the two styles of worship. Parishioners at the traditional service kneel at the altar rail to receive the bread and wine, those at the contemporary service stand.
In many Protestant and Roman Catholic churches, few aspects of communal worship have become more important than the issue of whether to kneel. The general trend has been a move away from kneeling, but some have challenged efforts to discourage kneeling.
Arguments
Many people still like to kneel because they believe "there needs to be the recognition that you're dealing with the Almighty," said the Rev. Theodore Schneider, bishop of the Metropolitan Washington Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. "It's a sign of respect, a sign of prayer."
The case against kneeling is rooted in the argument that worship should be a joyful experience, not a plea for God's forgiveness.
Many congregations have abandoned kneeling because they associate it with an "extreme penitential sense of being sinners," said Carol Ann Doran, professor of music and liturgy at Virginia Theological Seminary (Episcopal) in Alexandria, Va. Instead of praying on their knees, heads down and hands clasped, many worshipers prefer to stand, arms out and palms held up, "waiting for God's spirit to become present," she said.
Worship also has become more physical in many denominations with congregants swaying as they get caught up in the beat of modern music, Doran said, and it's easier to be fully involved if you're standing.
Some Protestant traditionalists have taken up the cause, demanding that they be allowed to kneel in church if they choose. Some Methodist and Presbyterian congregations have added "kneelers" in pews, quoting biblical texts that speak of the importance of presenting oneself humbly before God. Pentecostal and evangelical churches, including some that are Baptist, ask that worshipers kneel on the floor and rest their elbows on their seats -- a practice once common in Methodist churches but abandoned at the turn of the 20th century.
But there's little doubt that most Protestants, like Catholics, have replaced the penitential style of worship with happier, more joyful expressions of devotion, said James F. White, professor emeritus of liturgical studies at Notre Dame.
History
White, a Methodist, said penitential piety originated in the medieval period, with the kneeling posture adapted from the feudal practice of a vassal kneeling before his lord.
"The idea was that you'd go to church to be miserable, and it usually worked," White said.
The practice continued after the Reformation, and sometimes was adhered to more rigidly in Protestant churches than Catholic, he said. Eastern Orthodox churches, on the other hand, never adopted kneeling or a penitential pose as a common practice.
In Protestant denominations, where decision-making generally is less centralized than in the Catholic Church, policies on kneeling tend to be made at the local level.
Among Episcopal and Lutheran churches, practices vary widely. Some congregations kneel at the Communion rail yet others do not; some have kneelers in the pews and some have removed them.
At Washington National Cathedral, which tends to be less "high church" than some Episcopal sanctuaries, "There is no hard and fast rule," said the Rev. Peter Grandell, head of worship and liturgy. Instead of pews, the cathedral has chairs, and attached to the back of each is a kneeling cushion.
Taize
Some Christians have revived kneeling but sought to break its long association with doing penance.
A form of worship called Taize, for example, combines kneeling, ancient chanting rhythms, communal prayer and candlelit-meditation on Eastern Orthodox icons.
The kneeling is done as "a gesture of love" rather than as an expression of guilt and contrition, said Stephan Waligur, a Taize follower who leads services weekly in Washington.
"When I kneel, it's a gesture of ... solidarity with everyone there and with love for God," said Waligur, who was raised Catholic and was ordained a United Methodist minister. "It's a beautiful thing that emphasizes positive spirituality instead of a negative one. Negative spirituality emphasizes and uses guilt in a manipulative sort of way, one that is destructive to a person's inner life and trust and confidence."