Rituals as expressions of emotion
A simple answer is to see the liturgy as one more service we consume.
On this reckoning we should have unmitigated joy at weddings.
A similar joy is when a new child is welcomed among us – and most Christians have traditionally celebrated births by a baptism.
Then we could have sympathetic sorrow and mourning at funerals; and with darkened tones we could express our solidarity with those suffering after a disaster – and ‘mourning with those who mourn’ is very important.
Following this approach, a wedding – always the paradigm for human rejoicing as we see in Mt 9:15 – should provide us with lots of opportunities to express high spirits: it should be an occasion for fun.
Indeed, this is a formula used by those who want god-free secular ceremonies to satisfy the human need to ritualise our experience: it is always good to have an opportunity to ventilate and express how we feel deep down.
“Joy is not icing
on the liturgical cake:
it should be
its abiding flavour.” – Thomas O’Loughlin
