The Practice of Lament
One of the beautiful aspects of the Bible is that it doesn’t gloss over the topics of grief, loss, sadness, unfulfilled expectations etc. The Psalms are a spectacular example of people crying out to God in the depths of their sadness. The raw acknowledgement that God doesn’t appear to be saving them from suffering or pain is uncomfortable in our modern Christianity where God is expected to save us from all our enemies, gives us victory and we live happily ever-after. All we need is more faith or trust.
Richard Rohr and other Wisdom teachers, stress the importance of sitting with what we call negative emotions, because they have something to teach us. Perhaps things that we would rather not confront or acknowledge about ourselves.
I have been sitting with some particularly heavy sadness recently, so took some time to reflect on it in the form of a lament and I leave you with this:
Sadness is a load, heavier than I want to bear
Where is the Joy you promised in the midst of it all?
I can’t see it, can’t feel it
Escape, Distract, Divert, Ignore – they all sound like good solutions because
Confronting is too hard
***
Where is my Victory, my Overcoming?
Where is my Peace that passes all understanding?
I resent the preachers who promise these outcomes as if they are guaranteed
I resent the shallow theology that says God is a vending machine,
Doling out happy-pills to the faithful
***
Sadness… Loss of dreams, Loss of hope
Unfulfilled expectations
God, I feel you let me down, I’ve been so faithful
Does it have to rain on the just and the unjust alike?
Why can’t I avoid this?
***
Sadness and sorrow…
Straying into self-pity is so easy right now
My ego wants to be stroked and justified
How do I separate them from my self?
Wishing doesn’t make it happen.
***
God, you remain my strong foundation
You don’t tell me to take a pill or snap out of it
You accept me when I struggle to accept myself and those around me
***
The Sabbath starts with darkness in hope of the new day
Lord, be my rest during this night
And give hope for a brighter day tomorrow
Faith should be lived out in practice
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