fleshy sources of illegitimate expressions was never made publicly visible by
pastors at either church. Instead, these spiritual expressions were uniformly
negatively sanctioned through pastoral action that worked to make the acts
invisible or to contradict the messages delivered. Counseling of individuals
who produced these inappropriate expressions was private.
While attending services at the Suburban Church, four expressions of the
spirit were discerned as illegitimate and negatively sanctioned. The four occa-
sions of illegitimate expressions included: (1) An inappropriate expression of
praise, (2) An inappropriate occasion of speaking in tongues, (3) An inap-
propriate prophecy, and (4) An inappropriate occurrence of shouting accom-
panied by dancing in the spirit. These four inappropriate expressions will be
described and analyzed in terms of their timing, spatial location, and the
public response that each received. We focus our discussion on those aspects
of these expressions that were relevant to why they were not considered legit-
imate expressions of the Spirit within the local congregational order of practice.
An Occasion of Inappropriate Praise
On one occasion, a woman was observed being removed from the sanctuary
by a pastor and an usher after she had been praising in a spirited manner.
The woman had walked around the periphery of the sanctuary, while cry-
ing, waving her hands in front of her waist and shouting, “Thank you Lord.
Thank you Jesus.” After circling the sanctuary alone, a female usher followed
her. A male pastor later joined them. They each put an arm around the woman,
whispered in her ear, and gently walked her out. The congregation did not
appear to notice this event, and continued to worship.
The woman’s praise did not fit the characteristics of legitimated public
expressions of the Spirit in this church. Although the tone of her praise was
uplifting, the ritual timing and spatial location were off. Other worshipers
cry, wave their arms, and shout out praises from their pew during the points
in the service between songs that are designated for praise. By contrast, this
woman’s praise was enacted during the song portion of the worship service,
rather than in the pauses designated for praise. Furthermore, moving around
the periphery of the sanctuary, which is acceptable and even preferred in
some churches, is not expected here and drew the attention of the leader-
ship, leading to her removal from the sanctuary.
People were not expected to move around the periphery of the sanctuary
either at this church or in the Urban Church. In these congregations such
Speaking in Tongues: A Dialectic of Faith and Practice • 275