Congregational question: Why don’t we clap as a church when the choir finishes singing?

Our participation in worship, our singing, our prayers, our responsive reading, the choir singing, they are all known as liturgy. Some have defined liturgy as the work of the people. I know this can be confusing because some churches refer to themselves or their worship as non-liturgical. That may sound good to them, but they are wrong. All worship that involves people is liturgical, it is the people gathered and responding in some sort of a group manner to their experience of God’s love in their lives.
When the choir sings, it is part of that response to God for the love that has been shown. As such, clapping for the choirs beautiful singing would be no different than clapping for the prayers, the sermon, the hymns or other parts of worship. In some sense, it changes it from worship to performance.
So what do you do when you hear the choir sing a beautiful song that moves you? You could tell the choir, or some members of the choir after worship that their singing was beautiful and moved you. Better yet, you could decide then and there that you were going to listen to that still small voice of God that seems to compel you toward joining the choir and show up some Wednesday at 7pm.
Now, what about someone singing or playing a solo. We have had some wonderful solo gifts of music in the last year. Well, this is a tough one. I still feel that, theologically speaking, it is best to wait until after worship and tell that person what a wonderful, moving experience it was for you. Then again, in spite of that, I find myself compelled to clap, and often do. Well, so much for theology. Sometimes, it just seems like clapping is the only thing you can do and you just need to do it. For those times, well I think God understands that also. Go for it as the spirit leads you and remember that even in worship, sometimes doing the wrong thing is the right thing to do.