Avoiding conflict is equated with leadership. A determination to stir the pot is a path to power. Worship becomes an acting-out of lifestyle, in effect a praise of self. Our music is youthful and participatory because we are young and exuberant. Or our worship is staid and formal because that's how we live.
Some congregations thrive because they catch lifestyle waves at their crest.
Our ears wait to be tickled, our egos stroked, our choices affirmed. In fact, Peter would deny his master, because he had the weakness that sees self as the center of all things. In time, though, Peter went beyond self and dared to proclaim a truth that pierced others and caused him trouble. No suburban campus of religion would ever be built on a hard word such as his. But souls were saved, if not soothed.