Many years ago I presented a lesson on joy and mentioned that joy was to be part of our whole lives as Christians, even in our worship of God. A gentleman of the congregation took exception to that, saying we were to be serious in worship, not joyful. I believe he was making serious and somber equal while making joy and seriousness opposites. Someone else has mentioned that our tone during worship should be like that of a funeral - meaning laughter and joy are out of place.
When you lose someone you love it is painful, sad, and a time for grief. Even if you believe they are better off by passing from this world, you still miss them terribly. Tears are very much a part of saying goodbye. Even so, over the years I’ve found that most funerals, at least the best of them, always include laughter we well. Tears and laughter - shouldn’t they be mutually exclusive? We might think so, but both are a very important part of our grieving. We understand tears more easily because of the sorrow for the loss. If we’ll think of all that surrounds these times we can see how laughter is brought into the moment as well.
My favorite part of funerals (does that sound morbid? it’s not intended to be.) is when those who have gathered to pay their respects recount their memories. Inevitably during these remembrances events will be brought up that illustrate some enjoyable personality quirk of the loved one or that are times of joy shared by friends and family. A funeral without these memories seems to lack a full expression of the love being expressed.
So, back to our tone in worship. Tears can be a very important part of our approach to God. We grieve over our own sins, over the injustices of this world, over the pains, sorrows and losses of life. Laughter, also, is an important part of coming before our Creator. We rejoice at the tremendous blessings He has bestowed upon us, especially all He’s done for us in Christ, at the wonderful gift He’s given us in each other, at the wonder of the “miracles” we see around us in creation and in life (who can’t smile at children and babies?), at the amazing paradox that we have received grace in spite of our undeservingness (not really a word, but how can we adequately describe the depths of our sin?).
If we leave out sorrow or joy, by focusing on only one, maybe it is then we haven’t taken worship as seriously as we should.
