Week 5—Lamentations 5

       We opened our session by reading a children’s book, A Rock in My Throat, by Kao Kalia Yang. In it, she describes from a child’s perspective the isolating and draining experience of a Hmong refugee having to navigate an English-speaking world.

Who gets to speak? Lam. 5:1

       Lamentations shifts the balance of power in unexpected and counter-cultural ways. Surprisingly, God’s voice is absent throughout the book. Instead, the focus is on the sufferer. Lamentations creates the space for them to be heard in all their raw honesty. It takes their pain seriously.

       Remember, O LORD, what has befallen us;

              look, and see our disgrace!

—Lam. 5:1

       “In many of our justice endeavors, we often believe that our task is to speak for the voiceless. But maybe we need to follow the book of Lamentations and move the ones who suffer to front and center... the actual voice of those who suffer. The people pray for themselves. Oftentimes, in corporate prayer meetings, we offer prayers on behalf of the suffering; even when an individual is present, that individual remains silent while others pray. The example of Lamentations may be to move those who suffer to... become empowered to pray for themselves” —Rah (pp. 178-179).

A raw, ugly protest: Lam. 5:2-18

       As we get to the final chapter of the book the lament is honest and comprehensive– every age group is included. And the descriptions of the suffering is ugly. We shy away from it. Even as I was choosing what verses to include, I found myself shrinking from the worst parts, especially the depictions of sexual violence.

       Lamentations reflects both their immense physical suffering but also the psychological toll. This is something we’ve encountered as well in anti-racism work and in LGBTQIA+ inclusion—the experience of “minority stress” and trauma inherent to being a part of a marginalized minority.

       Rah lifts up the example of Native and African American worship as demonstrating raw, explicit lament, where suffering is not glossed over but lifted up. The rich heritage of Negro spirituals provides one such example of the powerfully honest language of suffering.

Partnering with God: Lam. 5:19

       A hopeful note is found in vs. 19:

       But you, O LORD, reign forever;

              your throne endures to all generations.

—Lam. 5:19

       A beautiful verse, but one that once again raises the question of whether God is responsible for their suffering—and ours. Whether suffering is a punishment for sin. There are places in the Bible that do suggest this, including Lamentations and Deut. But there are also places that speak against it explicitly, including the book of Job and Jesus’ answer to question of a blind man, “Who sinned, him or his parents?” The cause of suffering seems to be complex and needs to be read in the whole context of Scripture. I believe that there are many factors in our suffering—including human choices. This is why we care about injustice—we have a part to play in reconciliation and rebuilding.

       Rah is right to rebuke our “white savior” complex. He is right to remind us that Christ alone is the Savior and power to overcome injustice. But I want to be sure that doesn’t lead to passivity. On the night of the Lord’s Supper, Jesus prayed:

I am not asking you to take them out of the world, but I ask you to protect them from the evil one. They do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world.... As you have sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.

—John 17:15-18

       This is where we get our vision of the Church as “in the world but not of the world.” Only Christ can bring the ultimate reign of God. But in John 17:18 Jesus has sent us into the world—heralds of that kingdom. He has sent us to live out the kingdom.

“The hope for restoration comes not from a distant God but from Immanuel, ‘God is with us’... The church as the body of Christ now embodies Christ in the world... The church is called to embody Christ in the city” —Rah (p. 189).

       In Jesus, God enters the physical, material world. God is with us and suffers with us. The message of Lamentations is not that God controls everything that happens, including great evil and suffering. Rather, it is that God is always with us, working for good. God has never left the building. And we are called, as the Church, to be agents and heralds of Christ’s reconciling work.

God’s Presence in the City

       Incarnational ministry seeks then to follow Jesus’ example of being with people, going to them, rather than asking them to come to us. It’s an important aspect of our ministry, but Rah points out that even this can go sideways if we’re not careful:

       “Modern-day evangelicals look upon the city with the assumption that the city is spiritually dead... the city is idealized as a place of great need, and the pastor or community that relocates to the city takes on the idealized role of Christ in the city... Doing ministry for the urban community may become central, more than doing ministry with the people of the neighborhood” —Rah (p. 187, 194).

Rah is highly critical of the American church, including justice ministries. It’s uncomfortable, but a critique we need to listen to. But he doesn’t really give us a prescription for doing better. That can be frustrating. I want a role model, a script, a magic bullet that shows us how to be better allies in the work of anti-racism. There are some good resources out there for that, but this isn’t it. And perhaps that’s the point. Perhaps Rah isn’t giving us easy answers because this is a book about lament. And lament does not rush to answers. It doesn’t rush to quick fixes. Perhaps there is some wisdom in sitting with our feelings of helplessness, acknowledging our complicity and guilt, without rushing to try to fix it.

       One resource I have found very helpful is CCDA—Christian community development—founded by the late civil rights pioneer John Perkins. CCDA calls us to partner with others through “three R’s” of community development: relocation, reconciliation, and redistribution. The emphasis is not doing ministry at or for the city but rather partnering with the community.

Ending in a minor key: Lam. 5:20-22

       Lamentations ends “in a minor key”—the questions and suffering is not resolved.

   Why have you forgotten us completely?

     Why have you forsaken us these many days?

Restore us to yourself, O LORD, that we may be restored;

     renew our days as of old—

unless you have utterly rejected us

     and are angry with us beyond measure.

—Lam. 5:20-22

       There is a poignancy in the lack of a neat conclusion. It is a reminder that the work of justice is not finished. Lament gives us the space to name it all. To sit with it all. To mourn. And as we grieve, we cling to our faith in the God who grieves with us.

       Lamentations ends in sorrow. But many—not all, but many of the lament psalms end in praise. There's a little Hebrew word “vav,” usually translated “and” or “though”—that provides a pivot point—a way of turning toward hope. A way of looking toward that future that we pray for, every time we pray the Lord's prayer, “may your Kingdom come, may your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”

       Pastor Glen Packiam writes: "Lament is not our final prayer. It is a prayer in the meantime... Because Jesus Christ is risen from the dead, we know that sorrow is not how the story ends. The song may be in a minor motif now, but one day it will resolve in a major chord. When every tear is wiped away, when death is swallowed up in victory, when heaven and earth are made new and joined as one... For now, we lift our lament to God as we wait with hope. Even so, come, Lord Jesus."

Political Prayer of Examen by Nish Weiseth Truman

       We closed this week’s session with a prayer based on the classic contemplative prayer of examen, a daily journaled prayer which focuses on reviewing your day to stay attuned to the presence and movement of God. This version of it is a “Political Prayer of Examen” by Nish Weiseth Truman found in A Rhythm of Prayer, Sarah Bessey, ed.

       Begin with silence. Close your eyes and get comfortable. Breathe deeply. Awaken to the presence of God

1. Gratitude: thank God for today and the ability to make it through another day. Express your gratitude for any joys, victories, encouragement you received. Thank them for the people in your life. Be thankful for the opportunity to be politically engaged.

2. Request: As you begin to review your political engagement, ask God for clarity about yourself and about them. Ask God to show you what you need to know.

3. Review: look back over your own involvement in politics—whether big or small. Ask yourself the following questions. Jot some words or phrases down:

• What has troubled you about your own engagement?

• Where did you find joy in your political engagement?

• How did you love and serve others through your political actions?

• Where did you feel challenged, or where did you feel opposition?

• When you participated in politics, what did you do well? What needs improvement?

• Be aware of your emotions– how do you think God sees you? How do you think they see your politics?

• Where did you notice the presence and movement of God?

• How did you experience God’s love?

 4. Response: After recalling your political engagement and reflecting on the movement of God, what is your response to God’s revelations to you?

5. Looking forward: What do you hope for in your own political engagement? What do you desire from God? How do you want to be formed tomorrow?