Does God Mind when we make a mockery of Prayer?

I just sat through a fabulous Purim service. It was full of jokes, digs, irony, sarcasm, dancing, singing and laughter. But was it prayer? On the one hand, I want to say yes. Shouldn't prayer include some sense of joy and a little bit of irreverence? In my sense of my relationship with God, I think God wants us to have some fun...well, at least I hope so...but is prayer the place to do it? I am assuming we pray in some part because of our expectations of what God wants from us. If we only pray because we want/need to then bring on the irreverence. But, as Jews, I am not sure if we believe that...I think our conception of prayer is that we are in dialogue with God and prayer seems to create the setting for a very serious conversation. (Perhaps there is some room for humor in prayer more than I think...I would love my conversation with God-like my serious conversations with people-to include moments of levity)

If we pray in some part because of what God wants from us, then does God want this from us? As we sat in the HUC chapel, mocking the prayer service, part of me wondered if the earth might not just open up and swallow us whole. I am never comfortable with this tension on Purim. If this is ok for us and ok for God, is it only ok on Purim or are there other days of the year when we could laugh and play in our prayer in this way? Perhaps, I have been doing prayer incorrectly...perhaps

I just came from a HUC sermon discussion following on a very fine sermon delivered by Heather Borshof. In the sermon discussion, we are talking about joyous prayer in Christianity. Thinking about a Christian prayer service-especially the mega-church services which seem to be so popular these days. Those services strike me as full of joy and song. Uproarious, gut-emptying, ebullient song. People seem so in love with God, so full of faith. And I wonder, how does this affect faith? Does song and joy increase it, engender it? Or does it obsfuscate the doubt and the uncertainty. There is no room in a raucous “Halleluya” for “Halleluyah...kinda...” And what a gift and curse all at once. How does the joy distract us from the questions? How much does it hide the places where we hurt and wonder?

...and then I think, maybe it should. Maybe we need a break from hurting and questioning and wondering. Maybe if God sees us and our prayer in the big picture...in the long term...then Purim is one moment of many with God (hopefully). Maybe Purim becomes the reprieve from the serious, a break from the hurting and the questioning and a moment to say, what's really important?

Laughing.
Playing.
Rejoicing.
Singing.
Mockery.

Maybe just maybe I can believe that sometimes we need the questions and and the struggle and the serious conversation with God. And sometimes...as our Jewish calendar teaches, l'hafoch ba (the text of Purim says “turn it all upside down.” Sometimes our discussion with God should have some sass, some bite. I mean, how else could God know us if we do not openly reveal our inner goof-ball? (Maybe I should start pulling pranks on God during services once in a while...just to say I care.)

The more I think on it, the more I am in love with the tension and the conflict of praying with irreverence on Purim. May we be blessed to be irreverently irreverent in this season of joy.