People have a great need to be real in worship. They need worship to deal with the reality of the messiness of their lives—the brokenness, the sin, the pain, the doubts, the temptations. If we insist that our worship should always be “happy clappy,” then we deny the reality of many people’s lives. True worship will have joyful, Easter moments, but it also must have Good Friday moments where we face our brokenness, die to things so that we can experience Easter resurrection. Therefore, Morgenthaller insists worship must be:
- Sinner-Friendly – just as we seek to make church a comfortable place for the un-churched, we must also seek to make our worship a place where sinners know they are welcome. In fact, we need to be able to admit that they are welcome because they we too are, in fact, broken sinners.
- A Place to Lament – Scripture makes it clear that lament is a part of what it means to be in relationship with God. Take a glimpse at the psalms and you’ll see that the psalmist regularly cry out to God about their pain, their fears, their anger. Lament should be a regular part of our worship because we do live in a broken, hurting world.
To resist or forbid lament is un-Christian, dishonest and unhealthy. The dark powers of secrets, of shame, of pretending, are dispelled by the act of lament . . . [and] God is identified as our sole, hope, life’s ultimate power . . . . The lament trusts God’s unconditional love and mercy to accept and handle the truth about [us], no matter what . . . . Through [it] God is invited, and He surely comes to save. – Mark Hiiva
- A Place for Reality Checks—Worship should provide the opportunity for self-examination. This was an iatrical part of worship in the Roman Catholic tradition and should be retrieved by us. Where else than in church, should we be called to look at our lives, acknowledge our sins, ask forgiveness and then, of course, receive it!
- Worship must be a place and time where we can get real with God!
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