You’re right, maybe people don’t feel they have the opportunity to be real during corporate worship as the words on the screen don’t always echo the difficulty of life.
I suppose we can never cover where everyone is at during a main service, but we could certainly be more mindful of depth of song selection. Although, in the same breath I pray that with the songs of proclamation people recognise who God is and that he is able and find comfort knowing He holds everything together.
Finally, I also think small group is a key contributor in this area as there is more space for diversity of worship and focused pastoral work inc follow up.

Really interesting discussion, I pray that God would continue to show us how we truly connect Him and all of life together.

I don’t think we’re helped by the fact that most of the songs we sing together are often quite victorious and triumphalist. These are clearly themes drawn from the Psalms and very important ones too.

It’s just that we tend to filter out many of the other themes (e.g. lament, justice…) and so are left with a form of worship which is ‘biblical’ and yet ‘unbiblically selective’.

The selectiveness can sometimes feel like an escape to me at times.

We decided there is precedent in the Bible, particularly in the Psalms with David’s experience of wars, homelessness, persecution, hunger, refugee status – all through following God’s path for him. He could have said no to God and stayed at home in the relatively secure family business. Also, in the NT Jesus often carried distressing burdens of grief, anguish, exhaustion, misrepresentation – quite apart from Gethsemane and the crucifixion.

Jesus invites us to ‘Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.’ Matt 11:29. I’ve just noticed he didn’t say rest for your bodies & he tells us we’ll have persecution in the world. Guess that means burdens.

We concluded its about finding our focus and our rest in Jesus through trust & praise. This can happen in a quiet place, throughout the day in our normal routines and at church through worship with others.

I’ve always steered clear of the “leave your burdens at the door” approach. When necessary and appropriate, I’ve always preferred to encourage people to bring their problems, issues, burdens and worries in to church and to consciously (but metaphorically!) lay them at the foot of the cross in worship. These things need to be given over to Jesus. And yet it’s not – as the old chorus suggested – that “in His presence our problems disappear”, but instead as we give them to Him we get a fresh perspective on them, His perspective. Hope that helps a tad.

Blessings,

Matt

Yeah, I just love God and his church and want to try and do my little bit to resource as I try and learn!

Give my love to St .T’s and keep in touch! x

Alex