The Power of Gestures
By Nicholas Zork
“And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away. He who was seated on the throne said, ‘I am making everything new!’” Revelation 21:3-5a
There is fascinating research published in 2014 that I don’t think has received enough attention. Any of you who are worship leaders, pastors, teachers, parents, or care about having a positive influence on others—so all of you, I imagine—surely find yourself asking what you can do to encourage positive change and even transformation in those you care for.
The study was called “High Fives Motivate: The Effects of Gestural and Ambiguous Verbal Praise on Motivation.”
A line from the abstract reads, “The type of praise children receive influences whether children choose to persist after failure.” Researchers found that the least effective type of praise was focused on the child’s attributes (“You’re so smart,” You’re so talented,” etc.). More effective verbal praise focused on effort (e.g., “You got up when you got knocked down. You kept going. Well done.”). The most effective praise, however, was—perhaps surprisingly—a gesture with no words at all: a thumbs up or a high five.
Why was this? It turns out that telling someone they’re smart makes any subsequent failure a verdict on who they are. Even praising persistence, encouraging what people call a growth mindset, is better but not as good a high five. Why is that? I would suggest that ability is an attribute, and effort is an action, but a high five is a relationship. Have you gotten a high five or maybe a fist bump lately? How did you feel? A high five could mean “well done.” But its ambiguity fills it with polyvalent possibility. A high five isn’t merely “well done,” it’s “I see you, I like you, we’re in this together.”
Specific praise can be reductive, focusing on a particular skill or achievement. A high five affirms the whole person and can apply wherever they need it most.
Similarly, in Revelation 21, we see that God’s response to our failures, doubts, confessions, laments, and suffering is not just words but a gesture, as God “wipes every tear” from our eyes.
Transformative worship is full of powerful gestures: bowing down in humility and gratitude before God, raising our hands in surrender, standing in recognition of who God is, dancing in celebration of what God has done for us, and gathering to rehearse our belonging to God and the community of Jesus. Gestures transform us.
My favorite way to understand the power of celebrating the Lord’s Supper is to consider the idea of “transignifcation”—an idea developed by theologian Edward Schillebeeckx and others. You may be familiar with the idea of “transubstantiation”—that in communion, the sensory characteristics of the bread (how it looks, smells, and tastes) remain unchanged, but its substance becomes the body of Christ, which is not the Adventist understanding of communion. So what does Jesus mean when he says, “This is my body?” Is the bread or anything else transformed through our gestures in communion? I believe it is. It’s transformed through “transignification.” As my professor, Todd Johnson, explained in a lecture, imagine you are holding flowers. When you give them to someone you love, they are still flowers. But they are also transformed into a gift. In every sense of the word, they become a gift.
Similarly, when we break bread and share it with those in need—which is all of us in different ways—when we kneel and stand and celebrate and sing and serve, the bread becomes a gift, a transformative symbol, and we become the Body of Christ. The Body of Christ is re-membered—it’s put back together. Our vision is transformed, and we see that we are all God’s beloved. Our identity is transformed.
As we plan and lead worship from week to week, may we consider not only the words we speak and sing but also the gestures through which we respond to God and become who we are in Christ.