SCRIPTURE: Lamentations 3:
TEXT: THEME: Taking hope with us through our lament. INTRODUCTION The first chapter of Lamentations gives us words to articulate the raw feelings we have at a loss. Yesterday I was outside in my yard and I could hear an argument that was taking place in our neighborhood. There was tremendous anger but I felt sorry for the guy because the only way he had to express his blame, anger and hurt was to shout an explicative. Lamentations expresses our loss, in words that plunges deep into our feelings, that help us get in touch with what is going on inside of us. There is something powerful that happens when the words of the Bible are saying what we are going through. It makes our faith in God real in knowing that God knows what we are feeling. Lamentations is a record of loss that echoes the grief the world is holding. In the second chapter we are encouraged not to move to quickly from our grief but to give it space and time to think, contemplate, meditate, consider others scenarios, gather up the facts, process, tell our stories to others, and listen to others. In this Time and Space we give ourselves time to think beyond our first reaction, our assumptions, our blame, our pity, and our shame. Then in chapter three, we are still in pain, and sorrowful but begin to lift our eyes and take on another view. There is Joy that we survived and at the same time guilt because we ask “why me?” We may begin to make peace with our loss but then begin to feel the gravity, of all that we have to do. It is not over yet. Although all of the stuff is gone, the one thing that still remains are relationships, good and bad. So now what? SCRIPTURE This is not the way you are supposed to study the Bible, but as I read the opening verses of Lamination 3 I couldn’t help but think of how God is shepherding Israel. I over laid a bit of the 23rd Psalm here: the rod, bringing us of darkness or shadows of death, dwelling with us all day long or forever in the house of the Lord, starvation satiated by green pastures. There is a story of how a shepherds would break the legs of a willful sheep, then carry it, feed it by hand, and build its relationship with it as it heals. The shepherd and the sheep bond with each other as they journey together. Then, from out of this contemplation of sorrow comes a revelation, verse 21” But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: the only verses we are familiar with from Lamentations is 22“The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; 23they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.” Smack dab in the middle of the book of Lamentations. The meat in this sandwich is 2 verses around a lot of thick slices of lamenting bread. 2 1/2 chapters of sorrow to get to here and 2 1/2 more chapters of sorrow to get to the end. This should have been the end of the book but it is not because the sorrow continues and does not magically disappear. So with this promise of God’s daily mercy, love and faithfulness, we are not alone, as God continues to live with us. The rest of the 3rd chapter is about confessing our short comings, admitting our grief, seeking justice and wanting God’s wrath to repay vengeance upon their enemies. Maybe that is why Israel continues to have enemies even to this day? In their grief and sorrow they haven’t moved beyond justice and vengeance toward love, mercy and faithfulness. They are stuck in that cycle of violence. APPLICATION If we don’t take the time to work on our grief, we can get stuck in life, remain the victim feeling sorry for ourselves. Or always angrily blaming others for the situations we are in. What are we feeling in the space between disaster and hope? Lamentations 3:22-33 is part of a larger conversation about traumatized individuals and communities struggling through their own sorrow and grasping for any remnant of a relationship with God. It is a part of faith, but not the final word, and should be carefully used to open avenues of conversation, dialogue, and honest sharing rather than shut them down. Suffering is a part of living. How we deal with suffering enables us to have compassion for others. How we have been able to navigate through our suffering can be a help to others with their suffering. We can share how God has been a help for us through our grieving. If nothing else, it is with God’s promise of steadfast love, unending mercy and great faithfulness that moves us beyond despair and moves us on the path towards hope. The book of Lamentations is a literary marvel as in chapter 2 it adds space for us to have time to sit in our grief. Then it literally puts hope, mercy love and faith in its middle. As the place we reach out to from despair and the as what we take with us as we continue to journey through our sorrow. (Like a Hero/hope sandwich) Grief comes in waves. At first, the time between these waves of grief are short, but as time goes on, and we do our grief work, considering what we are feeling. The times between bouts of grief become greater. This is how we know we are getting better. Not that we are forgetting our loved one or the loss, but that we begin to take that part with us as we live the rest of our lives. CONCLUSION Relationships are important to God. It seems that God’s goals are all about relationship. We get this in Genesis and the family of God. Then it continues in Exodus and the nation who become the People of God. We see this more fully in the life of Jesus as we are called to be heirs of the Kingdom of God as its children. When we think about the peaceful neighborhood, we imagine it is about conversion and getting everyone to be a Christian. But maybe it is more about our living with love, respect, kindness, and acceptance. Being able to identify how we feel when this happens. Without blame, but being able to communicate our feeling with each other so understanding can take place and we can work on solutions together. Then as we live in this manner, relationships with God would be fostered. I don’t think that God is like the shepherd who breaks the sheep’s leg to create a bond with us. But I do believe that when our leg is broken it is God who carries us, provides for us and heals us. We get to see the mercies of God more clearly. Not everything has an instantaneous miraculous happy ending. When I was 8 years old I developed asthma. I had childlike faith and prayed for healing and waited. It took about 8 years before I finally out grew my asthma. God carried me though sorrow and poor health and I learned about prayer and faith. I might not have learned as much about God if my family stayed where they were and didn’t end up moving to the Waimea Larger Parish. So no matter where we are in the hero sandwich of mercy, love and faithfulness, God is discoverable in our sorrow and will journey with us into the remaining set of chapters of our lives.
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