Lament in liturgy : a critical reflection from an URCSA perspective

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT: South Africa faces many challenges, as a country. Our communities are struggling with many issues such as poverty, inequality, rape, abuse, violence, corruption and many more. Yet, our faith community seems reluctant to lament these issues during their worship services. This research looks specifically at the practice of the Uniting Reformed Church in Southern Africa. The question that this research wrestles with is: 'Given the challenging times that we live in, in what way could a re-discovery or a re-claiming of lament in liturgy, against the background of healing and hope, obtain new meaning in our congregations? The assumption of the research is that if the church wants to be relevant in the lives of their members today, she would need to revisit and reclaim the process of lament in the liturgy. It could further be argued that a re-thinking and a re-introduction of lament in liturgy could have far-reaching and enriching implications in the life of the faith community, especially where the healing of memories is concerned. Part of the research was a literature study while another section consisted of empirical studies. Congregations from the Uniting Reformed Church in Southern Africa, in the Western Cape, took part in the studies. The main focus of the research was descriptive empirical and the information gathered had to be interpreted. Through the normative task, theological reflections could be carried out and finally possible criteria could be deduced in terms of how lament could be re-integrated into existing liturgies of our church.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University