Make Room for Lament

Feb 18-24, 2024

Icebreaker: What is the saddest song you know? Why does it affect you? Does singing it make you feel better or worse?

What is Lament?

Public lament makes it clear that things are not as they should be, not as they were promised, and not as they must be. Bringing hurt to public expression is an important first step in the dismantling criticism that permits a new reality, theological and social, to emerge (Brueggemann 12).

What kind of world or life does God envision for humanity and all creatures?

What hurts do you bring to God? How might your neighbors be hurting?

Lent - Lament - 20240218.pdf

Scripture

Psalm 137:1–4

1 By the rivers of Babylon— there we sat down and there we wept when we remembered Zion. 2 On the willows there we hung up our harps. 3 For there our captors asked us for songs, and our tormentors asked for mirth, saying, “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!” 4 How could we sing the LORD’s song in a foreign land?

How do you think people feel who have been exiled to another country? Sad, angry, mournful?

In psalms of lament, there is a sense of outrage, as well as statements of faith in a God who superintends human affairs and is a friend of the oppressed. Lament psalms presuppose at least two premises—that there is a right and a wrong, and that God can be trusted to vindicate the cause of the righteous (Ryken et al. 485). How good are you at calling out what is wrong with yourself and with the world? How good are at you entrusting God to make things right?

Psalm 42:1–5

1 As a deer longs for flowing streams, so my soul longs for you, O God. 2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and behold the face of God? 3 My tears have been my food day and night, while people say to me continually, “Where is your God?” 4 These things I remember, as I pour out my soul: how I went with the throng, and led them in procession to the house of God, with glad shouts and songs of thanksgiving, a multitude keeping festival. 5 Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my help.

Did you ever become homesick? What was it about home that you missed?

Why is a thirsty deer a powerful image for the psalmist?

Do you ever catch yourself being downcast and disquieted? What are some ways you find hope in God?

John 11:33–36

33 When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, he was greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved. 34 He said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.” 35 Jesus began to weep. 36 So the Jews said, “See how he loved him!”

How do these verses reveal Jesus’ humanity?

Why do you think Jesus was disturbed and moved to tears?

Mark 14:36

36 He said, “Abba, Father, for you all things are possible; remove this cup from me; yet, not what I want, but what you want.”

What do you learn from Jesus about how to handle a crisis? What do you learn about how to confront sin and evil, and the suffering it causes?

Revelation 21:3–5

3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “See, the home of God is among mortals. He will dwell with them as their God; they will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them; 4 he will wipe every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more, for the first things have passed away.” 5 And the one who was seated on the throne said, “See, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this, for these words are trustworthy and true.”

How does this help us lament with hope?

A Variety of Laments

The Bible contains a variety of laments (Manser).

Lamentation occasioned by bereavement

2Sa 3:33-34 See also Ge 50:10; Jer 31:15; Mt 2:16-18; 9:23 pp Mk 5:38 pp Lk 8:52; Lk 23:27; Jn 11:31-33

Lamentation occasioned by personal trouble

Ps 56:2,8; 102:1-2

Lamentation occasioned by national disaster

2Ch 35:25 See also 2Sa 1:17-27; Est 4:1; 9:31; Jer 8:21-9:1

Lamentation occasioned by the judgment of God on Israel

Am 5:1-2 The call to lament is sometimes meant as a warning of impending judgment; La 1:1 The book of Lamentations is a series of laments after the fall of Jerusalem. See also Isa 3:24-26; 29:1-2; Jer 4:7-8; 7:29; 9:10,17-21; La 2:5; Eze 2:9-10; 19:1-14

Lamentation occasioned by the judgment of God on other nations

Isa 16:9-11 See also Isa 15:5,8; 16:7; 19:8; Jer 48:36; Eze 26:17-18; 27:2-36; 28:12-19; 30:2-4; 32:2-16

Lamentation as a sign of repentance

La 1:5,8; 3:39-40; Eze 9:3-6

Works Cited

Brueggemann, Walter. The Prophetic Imagination. 2nd edition, Fortress Press, 2001.

Manser, Martin H. Dictionary of Bible Themes: The Accessible and Comprehensive Tool for Topical Studies. Martin Manser, 2009.

Ryken, Leland et al. Dictionary of Biblical Imagery, InterVarsity Press, 2000.

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