What is Reverence?

[Vanguard]

On 4/30/2023 at 3:57 PM, Rain said:

What does reverence look like to you? Please pause and consider that a moment before reading on.

Today in Sunday School our teacher talked about how her primary class didn't know what reverence means. Among other things she talked about not running in the halls, not talking in the chapel, children not wandering the aisles. As she talked this song came to mind:

"Reverence Is Love 

Reverence is more than just quietly sitting:
It’s thinking of Father above,
A feeling I get when I think of His blessings.
I’m rev’rent, for rev’rence is love.
When I’m rev’rent, it shows in my words and my deeds.
The pathway to follow is clear.
And when I am rev’rent, I know in my heart
Heav’nly Father and Jesus are near."

I noticed that only one line described actions: "reverence is more than just quietly sitting." The rest are doctrines and/or principles. 

Does the song fit your view of reverence?

I've stated before that I have been reading (for a long time!) Misreading Scripture with Western Eyes." This weekend what I have read there came to mind.  Specifically this: "Collectivist cultures are very different indeed. In a collectivist culture, the most important entity is the community—the family, the tribe or the country—and not the individual".

I went to a refugee baby shower yesterday, but not your typical shower.  There were more than 25 moms there and it is intended to empower these women in many ways.

There were 8-10 round tables in the room, each sitting 6 people comfortablely and 8 a bit squished.  As the refugee women and their mentors and translators wandered in over the course of an hour and a half they sat themselves at the tables.  I noticed that the first 2 tables became full with 6 and 8 before other tables were really sat at.  As time went on more and more women sat at those 2 tables.  By the time everyone was seated one table had 10 people and the other 14 with sort or a second ring of chairs around the inner ring.  There were still empty seats at the other tables.  

Obviously, there were some cultural and language reasons why this 2 tables flowed over, but people here would typically decide to break the groups in half and sit at 2 tables and they would still have that connected language.  But these women just kept going to those tables and were welcomed at them.  

These women were a great example of the collectivist, community culture. 

After the Sunday School lesson, the song and this experience I realized my thinking had been so limited. While I understood that reverence was more than sitting quietly and how you think and feel, but it could look very different than I had always seen  

It could look like Peter running down the church halls to see Jesus for the first time after his resurrection. It could look like children wandering the aisles to feel the love of Jesus who might be sitting nearby.  It could look like a group of women welcoming others into their crowded circle and sharing love. The principles outlined in the song were there, the actions/applications are different than I used to see. They were reverent because they shared the love of Jesus. Enlightening for me.

Edit: after reading another thread I want to make sure this is understood: I'm not trying to say my thoughts of reverence are the correct or only correct ones.  I was truly asking a question because I want to know.

 

IMO, reverence typically looks quiet & physically still. It is also in part determined by the norms of worship service in question. We don't hold children to this same standard for obvious reasons though we try to instill it in them. We may not hold capable adults to the standard depending on whatever mitigating variables present themselves (i.e, the individual's sense of genuine excitement or awe, etc.) in the moment. Reverence is also hoped for so as to enable others to focus on their own worship too and without disruption. Being quiet and physically still, however, is not an end in and of itself. It may be an indication of the individual's own genuine worship but then again maybe not. It's simply not for us to decide or worry about.  

[Navidad]

I would only add that for me reverence stems from being appreciative - of the atonement, Savior, His mercy and love.

[pogi]

Reverence.  We can revere boisterously like David with dancing and loud song at times.  Different settings can have different tones of reverence - it doesn’t have to be all quiet and hushed.  As has been noted, I think the word has been hijacked as a means of manipulating and controlling children.

[Orthodox Christian]

To me, reverence with regard to God is something on which I frequently miss the mark. For me, God is beyond my intellect, I can't grasp Him, His Holiness is unfathomable to me. I think because of this I flounder. Therefore, for me, the greatest way I can show anything near reverence for God is, aside from attending the liturgy is to draw near to Him in silence. To be still and know that He is God, and in silence allow my soul to commune with Him.