To clap or not to clap?...Is it worth it?

Yesterday while completing my daily ritual of browsing the days news feeds, I stumbled accross on article on The Tennessean's website that evoked in me such a broad range of emotinos that I just had to write something about it.

Churchgoers disagree on clapping in worship

My first reaction was to laugh at the utter absurdity of the things Christian's will get all up in a fit about. Then I started to get some of that good ol' righteous indignation about how these people were wasting time, church resources, and publicity on something so stupid (growing up as a Baptist, I've gotten really good at the righteous indignation thing). Then, at last, after I decided to come down off my pedestal of judgement, I just found myself saddened by how Satan has been able to so successfully manipulate the good people of the body of Christ into focusing on such trivial matters and losing sight of what is really important.

Why is it that Christians are so willing to publicly criticize fellow believers over things that are so pointless? I'm not saying that there isn't a right or wrong side to the argument, but there are some arguments that aren't worth the winning. This article is just another sign to all the non-Christians in Nashville that the Church has become completely disassociated from the culture and is no longer relevant to their lives.

I could go on longer, but it's probably wise that I don't. I just wanted to say that I think when we as Christians see stuff like this going on, it should impress on us why it is so important that we show people around us the unconditional love of Christ. That's what they are longing for, it's what they need, they don't care if we clap or not.