Phrases such as ‘rise to the occasion’ and ‘sense of occasion’ describe our how our behaviour changes when the circumstances require. If we are visiting court to present a witness statement for instance, our behaviour and deportment changes to suit the occasion and there are generally, well understood conventions about what those changes should be. The conventions will vary from culture to culture and from generation to generation but careful consideration of those conventions ensure we avoid being inappropriate in any way. Few of us like to stick out like a sore thumb!
These ideas influence us almost subconsciously and to a lesser or greater extent, somewhat based on our personality and again on our upbringing, we make choices of this type every time we move from one occasion to another. Those of us with a tendancy to ‘buck the trend’ may attempt to demonstrate that such conformity isn’t necessary. We enjoy the feeling of going against the grain. But there are some occasions when we know that there is more to be gained by doing what is expected, and this is not so much conformity, more about decent behaviour. It would be highly inappropriate to behave at a funeral in the way you would behave at wedding. All on the same page there I think.
In our gatherings with God’s people, traditions threaten clear thinking on how we behave and deport ourselves. Rather than be guided by a sense of occasion we are guided more often by – more confused principles. At one end of the spectrum we behave purely based on tradition and this trumps any thought of common sense. At the other end we behave as if we have a moral duty to show that tradition is wrong and so any middle ground will not do, only the other extreme will get our message across and put us as far away from tradition as possible.
These extremes have probably both been around long enough and now would be a good time to find the middle ground with it’s various shades. Simply being sensitive to the occasion in question and the kind of behaviour that is appropriate is the main principle here. Is it formal or informal, or somewhere in between? How I talk, dress, behave, and everything else I do stems from good judgement of that question. In that context we can revisit the funeral/wedding scenario again – both are formal, a wedding perhaps a little less so and clearly one is only solemn where as the other is partly solemn but mainly light-hearted. My role at these events will need to be taken into account; and the people who are the focus of the event also have a bearing on things.
Culture has a bearing on our judgement of these things and other factors influence too. So far as how we dress, things like the climate also have a bearing. There are probably other things besides. So far as these things do not come into conflict with other parts of the Word of God they are appropriate in informing our sense of occasion.
Our gatherings range from the very formal to the very informal and so to use another expression, ‘one size – will not – fit all’. In other words, one choice we make about our deportment for one gathering will not necessarily be appropriate for the rest. This might affect the most unlikely of things how we behave. As an example, take singing. We might sing excitedly and noisily in the Sunday School but not so in meetings convened for assembly prayer or outreach. Even outsiders would think us a little odd if we showed no sense of how these gatherings are different so far as how we sing. It will affect the person playing any musical instrument; it will affect the choice of song. We are intelligent about all these choices.
Being perhaps the most obvious indication of our sense of occasion, how we dress also needs to be put through this intelligent thought process. As much as possible think it through, thoroughly. Is it formal or informal? Who is present, seen and unseen? What is the purpose of the meeting? Other factors such as what choices our peers will make should be less important to us when we make these choices and run them past our conscience and past God. God’s approval is what makes our choices different from those made by unbelievers. He is interested in every part of our life and so we should be interested in Him.
Sometimes a child will act out of sorts from what was expected of them and onlookers with raised eyebrows might be heard to say of the child, ‘no sense of occasion’. Such childish behaviour should never mark us. An intelligent, informed and God centred thought process will moderate our choices such that this should never be the case.