The Importance of (appearing to be) Earnest

In my last post about performance and worship I included a link to the hilarious Contemporvant video about contemporary worship formats. The facial expressions of the song leader help to make the parody work. He is really "feeling it" and wants to make sure that the entire congregation knows it. This kind of public emoting is a pretty common phenomenon in many churches. Monique Ingalls describes the look this way:

I think we can all recognize what I’ve heard referred to as the “worship leader’s grimace”—the signature facial contortion meant to convey sincerity that falls somewhere between excruciating pain and divine ecstasy.

Somewhere between pain and ecstasy...
Image via Cassidy Boatright on Pinterest

I have long wondered how the scrunchy-faced worship leader phenomenon got started. Like anything, it is an action that we learned from someone - an imitation of a practice that has been passed down from somewhere. When did that start, and who started it?

And what is this all-too-earnest-look supposed to communicate to the congregation? I wonder if it is an informal way that worship leaders can show their "credentials." Pastors and priests earn degrees to demonstrate their professional development, but how does a worship leader earn respect for being good at her job? By being more "spiritual" or "into it"? Almost every blog and website on contemporary worship mentions authenticity as the worship leader's most important quality. Is this kind of public display of godly affection the badge of a "real" spiritual leader?

Oh yeah. The keyboard player is really feeling it.
Image from markmoore3bc.com