On the Body and Liturgical Practices: Why Don't Presbyterians Dance in Worship?

Abstract

F Church meets on Sunday evenings in downtown Los Angeles at a high-end nightclub. It is a church plant founded by The House (formerly Calvary Temple), a mega church in Modesto, California that is associated with the Assemblies of God, a branch of the Pentecostal tradition. The Fearless congregation is multi-ethnic and consists mostly of people under the age of thirtyfive. LA Weekly music writer Katie bain states that during a worship service at Fearless, the congregation “is losing it...People are singing and yelling, dancing with their palms raised and their eyes closed. Women crouch near the stage with their foreheads pressed against the dance floor.”1 The church members express their faith through embodied motions that surprise even a veteran music reporter, who chooses to describe the worship service using language traditionally reserved for psychedelic drug experiences.