Lament Epistle Series

🌿Sapling 😁Strongly-Agree

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Importance: 80%

The Big Idea: Series talking though the Biblical practice of lament.

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Genres of Lamentations 

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One of the oldest and best-attested literary genres in the ancient Near East. The OT contains at least four different kinds or subgenres of the lament: funeral dirge, city lament, individual lament, and communal lament.

The funeral dirge, common in many traditional societies like those of the ancient Near East, was sung by surviving family members or close friends as part of the ceremony for the deceased. These dirges are typically characterized by short ejaculatory phrases of the kind, “Oh, my son!” narrative passages which contrast the gloriously depicted past of the deceased with the mournful present, and, when relevant, imprecations directed at those responsible for the death of the deceased. The OT contains only two genuine funeral dirges, 2 Sam. 3:33–34; Jer. 38:22. However, there are several literary transformations of the funeral dirge (e.g., 2 Sam. 1:19–27), and several of the dirge’s more common motifs have been taken up in the city lament.

The city lament owes its original inspiration to the funeral dirge, as it mourns the destruction of a city as if the city were a deceased person. Knowledge of city laments dates back to the end of the 3rd millennium B.C.E. in ancient Mesopotamia. These laments describe the destruction of particular cities and their important shrines. The cause of the destruction is attributed to the capricious decision of the divine assembly headed by its chief god Enlil. The laments typically narrate the abandonment of the cities and shrines by their chief gods and goddesses and the onslaught of Enlil’s storm—a metaphor for the military attack of the enemy. The weeping goddess, portrayed lamenting the destruction of her city, figures prominently in these poems as well. The book of Lamentations shares a large number of genre features with these Mesopotamian laments, suggesting that the poet knew of this genre and drew heavily upon it for the composition of his own Israelite city lament. The city lament as a modulating form likely occurs elsewhere in the OT as well (e.g., Ps. 137; Isa. 15:1–16:14; 47:1–15; Jer. 48:1–47; Amos 5:1–3, 16–20; Mic. 1:2–16).

The individual lament so well known from the Hebrew Psalter has precursors in similar compositions from Mesopotamia, such as the Sumerian letter prayers and the šu-illa prayers. The following elements are frequently found in the individual laments in the Psalms (e.g., Pss. 3, 6, 13, 22, 28, 31, 51, 88, 102): address to Yahweh, complaint describing the situation (often employing the language of sickness metaphorically), request for help, affirmation of confidence, assertion of innocence or confession of sin, and hymnic elements.

Topically, the communal laments may be divided into two groups: those which lament the destruction of the city and temple (e.g., Pss. 44, 60, 74, 79, 80, 137) and those whose focus is on other kinds of community crises (e.g., 42–43, 58, 83, 106, 125). These laments appear to have been used on fast days or in times of grave danger. The main features of the communal lament closely resemble those of the individual lament: address to Yahweh, hymnic praise, description of devastation, complaint, and plea for help.

Dobbs-Allsopp, F. W. (2000). Lament. In D. N. Freedman, A. C. Myers, & A. B. Beck (Eds.), Eerdmans dictionary of the Bible (pp. 784–785). W.B. Eerdmans.

What’s in a Lament?

(Used in OS📃Epistle April 2022)

When we think and talk about the shape and cadence of Chrstian life, we rarely hear the word lament. And if you have heard the word lament thrown around, you probably associate it with the book of the Bible literally named Lamentations.  It is a dark and eerie book that Christians often leave on the shelf.  

After all, it is hard to approach a book that starts with the opening lines:

“How lonely sits the city

    that was full of people!

How like a widow has she become,

    she who was great among the nations!

She who was a princess among the provinces

    has become a slave.”

 - Lamentations 1:1

What do you do with that? How do you make sense of such negative and depressing words?  Why are they in the Bible in the first place?

The lament is more than a singular book of the Bible. It is one of the most firmly founded and identifiable genres used throughout the pages of Scripture. Much like narrative storytelling is used to tell and retell the story of God reaching into human history.  The lament peels back the facade of plastic living to look at the heart of things. It is in lament that the difficult and unanswerable questions of life are not stuffed down and ignored but brought to the light. 

Calling to God in lament is a powerful tool given to us by God himself. We find laments all throughout the Psalms and most especially in Lamentations.  God is not capricious, He does not delight in despair or destruction. He does not even willingly bring harm to anyone. But Life is not clean, there is death and destruction in the world.  The lament takes that seriously and does not dismiss the reality of pain and the question of God’s inaction.  The lament is the tool given to us to not simply address tragedy and pain but to actually process it.  

As the months unfold, we will explore the intricacies of this way of praying and speaking to God. But for now we will discuss the basic cycle, rhythm, and aim found across all different types of lament. 

At its beginning every lament starts with a problem. Whether it is a feeling, or a tragedy, or even a disappointment.  Every lament opens with a human experiencing the ugliness of our broken world. One natural reaction to living through this kind of darkness is to retreat.  Run away from God and others in order to keep a handle on the storm of feeling, and fears we hold inside of us.

The lament, however, runs toward God. Even in the middle of anger and frustration, a prayer of lament pours it all before the feet of God.  Lamentations describes what this posture of prayer should look like:

“Arise, cry out in the night,

 at the beginning of the night watches! 

Pour out your heart like water before the presence of the Lord!”

• Lamentations 2:19a

It is when things fall apart that we find ourselves in need of crying out to God.  Pouring out the hurt and harm we see and experience. Jesus models how to lament.  He lamented over Jerusalem, in the garden of Gethsemane and even prayed psalm 22 on the cross.  “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”  While this is where he stops the rest of the Psalm is implied:  “Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning?  O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer, and by night, but I find no rest.”  It is interesting that we normally treat these words of Jesus like He was the first to say them.  But lament is a language God has given his people throughout time and space to deal with situations that cannot be dealt with easily.  It is a language he still gives us today that can and should be added back into our Christian vernacular.   

As we run to God with the raw experience of our lives something amazing happens.  Even the darkest laments come to real experiences of God’s goodness and love. This is so much more than a simple affirmation that God is good even when it doesn’t feel like it. Running toward God is spectacularly powerful.  As we draw closer in the honest expression of our struggles, the promises and truths about God enter into our lives in deeply meaningful ways. It is in this place of vulnerability, that we hear strange words of comfort and resilience even when things seem hopeless. The language of lament speaks hope to the hopeless in a way that pulls and grabs the very core of our being.

“Though the fig tree should not blossom,

    nor fruit be on the vines,

the produce of the olive fail

    and the fields yield no food,

the flock be cut off from the fold

    and there be no herd in the stalls,

yet I will rejoice in the Lord;

    I will take joy in the God of my salvation.

God, the Lord, is my strength;

    he makes my feet like the deer’s;

    he makes me tread on my high places.

  Pushes”

-Habakkuk 3:17-19 

Can I talk to a Manager?

(Used in OS📃Epistle May 2022)

Last month we laid out the basic ideas behind the practice of lament.  At its core, a lament is a form of art as well as a tool to help faithfully process through even the darkest times of life. 

As art, laments take on many forms through the Psalms and other poetic books of the Bible. Yet in the midst of this diversity almost every lament can be broken down into six main elements.  These elements are:

• The complaint, or Issue Life has Brought Up. 

• An Affirmation of God’s Holiness. 

• Remembrance of God’s History of Rescue.

• Remembrance of Our place before God. 

• A Prayer for Deliverance. 

• Standing on God’s Promises

Throughout the following months we will focus on one of these elements to see how they allow us to come to God no matter our circumstances. 

Let us begin with the complaint. No matter how long or short, formal or informal a lament may be, every one begins with a complaint. We know exactly what is wrong when good things die or tragedy strikes. It grips us and makes our hearts sink. It is something many of us do our best to run away from, or avoid . Yet the lament teaches us to take on these experiences head first. 

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, in his book Creation and Fall, notes the profound connection between good, evil and death:  “What is the evil in good?  It is that the good dies.  What is the good in evil?  It is that the evil dies.”  The tree of the knowledge of good and evil has been tasted.  Violence, Suffering, and Death are a constant presence in the world around us. And when they come to our doorstep, when the people we care about, or we ourselves are touched by such darkness, We can and should pour out our anger and confusion before God.  

We can even acknowledge that God could have stopped it but did not.  It is painful to acknowledge this, especially in the wake of loss and suffering. Yet we cannot avoid it, we know where the hurt is and what has happened that is not right.  This should be cried out to God, not kept in ourselves or lessened by excuses.  We can and should call for God’s justice, His reparation in a situation gone so horribly wrong.  

So often Chrstians feel the need to “clean up” our inner experiences of difficult situations and emotions as if they do not affect us. This is not an authentic, or biblical way to go about our lives. No matter how hard we try, experiences that rock our worlds need to be dealt with more than simply putting on a smile. The opening complaint of the lament is a God given avenue to begin the process of dealing with such experiences. Even Jesus himself speaks the beginning of Psalm 22 from his place on the Cross. 

Psalm 22:1-2 “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning? O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer, and by night, but I find no rest.”

The One Who Never Changes

(Used in OS📃Epistle June/July 2022)

As we continue our walk through the practice of lament we now come to the second element: an affirmation of God’s Holiness. As a refresher the six main elements found within a lament are:

• The complaint, or Issue Life has Brought Up. 

• An Affirmation of God’s Holiness. 

• Remembrance of God’s History of Rescue.

• Remembrance of Our place before God. 

• A Prayer for Deliverance. 

• Standing on God’s Promises

Up to this point we have talked about coming to God and being open about what is bothering us, or the issue we are lamenting. This honesty and transparency lays the foundation for this next step.  Because if we stay stuck only complaining to God, we will never go anywhere. But as we confess who God is, the reality of His holiness can begin to reframe our situation.  In Psalm 22 as soon as the Psalmist has finished expressing his complaint he turns to affirming God’s true character.

“Yet you are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel.” 

Psalm 22:3 

God is a god of justice. There is no darkness in Him.  Even though we can let our complaint take its course, it does not change for a second the reality that God is Holy and completely Just.  He is a loving God and even though we may feel far away, or like He has not answered, the second element brings us back to remembering the true identity of God. 

It is always striking that when humans encounter the Holiness of God their reaction always goes something like this: “When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying, ‘Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades.’” - Revelation 1:17-18

As we process through the hardships of life, it is vitally important to come back to who God really is. It grounds us in deeper truths than the emotions and experiences of the moment.  It reminds us that no matter what happens next, God is and will always be who He says He is.  Even though it may take us a while to begin to feel like this is true, taking the time to pause and affirm that God is good, that He is Just and loves us, begins to gently guide us toward making our lament more than just a complaint, but a tool for healing.  

More than History

(Used in OS📃Epistle August 2022)

I hope that your Summer has been filed with times of refreshment and community! As the summer begins to wind down and the school year approaches, I would like to resume our discussion of the practice of lament (if this is the first time you have heard of this you can reach out to Pastor Harrell for a copy of the full discussion). 

Whether it is economic turmoil, human tragedy or suffering.  The world never runs out of things to mourn. As we step back into the practice of lament we allow God to grow and build us up as we engage with these hard realities rather than become cynical and jaded. 

It has been a while since we last discussed the lament. Therefore, to review, a traditional lament is made up of six major parts or “steps.” Each serving to help process our experience of the darkness and evil of this world in light of who God is and where we belong in God’s plan. These six elements are: 

• The complaint, or Issue Life has Brought Up. 

• An Affirmation of God’s Holiness. 

• Remembrance of God’s History of Rescue.

• Remembrance of Our place before God. 

• A Prayer for Deliverance. 

• Standing on God’s Promises

Today we will be focusing on the third element, Remembrance of God’s History of Rescue. Our experience of the world around us is unique. And yet when pain or grief comes knocking, we do not experience them in a vacuum. We are not the first or only one to feel, or suffer, like this.  Experiences like these are shared by God’s people throughout the ages. Page after page of Scripture is full of people who live in the midst of conflict and pain. 

Yet in the middle of the turmoil, God saves His people time and time again, especially when they did not deserve it. For example, the Israelites freed from slavery, Elijah fed by crows in the wilderness, Paul preserved from death even though he was beaten and unconcious. So many people have lived through pain similar to ours and God has rescued them. 

These stories can become an anchor for us. As we feel swept around by the power of our racing thoughts, fears, or pain, we can look to the past to a God that does not just say He can rescue. No, we look to a God who HAS rescued his people, heard their cry and brought them hope. 

God is a God of history and promise.  He has rescued our forefathers in the past and has promised His care to us here and now.  Because of this, we have real tangible hope for our rescue and assurance that God has not abandoned us. 

“In you our fathers trusted; they trusted, and you delivered them. To you they cried and were rescued; in you they trusted and were not put to shame.” - Psalm 22:4-5

Without a Leg to Stand On 

(Used in OS📃Epistle September  2022)

As life begins to pick up for our teachers and students, I pray that every family finds peace and joy in this new Fall season! It is amazing to see how our life together here at Our Saviors continues to grow under the continued provision of the Holy Spirit. We continue our discussion around the practice of lament by taking a look into the sobering reality of where we stand before God. 

 “But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by mankind and despised by the people. All who see me mock me; they make mouths at me; they wag their heads; ‘He trusts in the Lord; let him deliver him; let him rescue him, for he delights in him!’ Yet you are he who took me from the womb; you made me trust you at my mother’s breasts. On you was I cast from my birth, and from my mother’s womb you have been my God.”

• Psalm 22:6-10

Words coming out of the fourth element of lament (you can find a review of these elements in last month’s epistle) often sound strange to us. We are used to acknowledging and confessing our sinfulness during worship services. But the formal setting of church can disguise the true nature of confession.  We deserve nothing. “For the wages of sin is death”(Romans 6:23). All of us have sinned; we have failed to be the people God has called us to be. We have not been the husbands, wives, children or friends we should have been. We have harmed our neighbors and so often turn in toward our selfish natures. Confession is messy, costly, words not easily said, but humbly whispered in prostration before a fearsomely holy God.  Yet time after time we hear the words that come after confession. We hear the words of absolution. Jesus died and rose. He completed the work we could never do. We are freed, forgiven and released from everything we confess. 

However, within the context of Lament the idea of confession and absolution take on a very different meaning.  When we lament the wrong in the world, or our own lives, it is easy to look out and see the problems with the world around us.  The enemies or circumstances that have caused this hardship are easy to blame.  Even God may come under fire for allowing these dark realities into our life. And as we pour out our heart before God in lament, we must address the fact that even though evil is “out there” as it oppresses and pushes on us in our darkest times.  Evil is also “in here” within me, my own sinful nature. I have contributed to the pain and suffering of others. I may have even had a hand in my own suffering. It is humbling to confess that we are not innocent bystanders even in the worst tragedies.  

Just like Adam and Eve in the garden, we so often start to point fingers. We may not have caused things directly, but we, as sinners, have added our share to the darkness we are now experiencing. This often strikes me as a horrible gut wrenching realization. I hate the suffering in the world and the pain of others. But I, me, myself, have been a part of it. I am not a just, or righteous, actor in the world. Rather we have so often been selfish, conceited and prideful. And so as we come before God with our complaint and cry out to him about the suffering we experience; We do not come as one who has a leg to stand on. I have no recourse or justification for mercy or relief from God. I confess that I am in utter dependence and undeservedness before the Creator of the Universe. It is sheerly by the grace of God I can even come near and bow before Him.  He is the only one who is truly just. We can question and struggle, but ultimately, God is God and we are not.  “I am a worm and not a man…yet you are he who took me from the womb.” When we come to this utter bottom as one without a case, then the words of forgiveness and the promise of peace can sustain us through anything.  

Hear Me O Lord! 

(Used in OS📃Epistle October 2022)

As time continues its steady march, I hope this epistle finds you well and steadily founded in the fact that you are a precious child of God. As we get close to the end of our series on Lament, I want to revisit the big picture briefly.  Up to this point, we have taken time to look at the first four elements of a lament and how they can engage us during times of difficulty and suffering. The whole point of a lament is to give us tools to approach the dark realities of our life, and world, in a way that is Christ focused and healing. A lament is aimed at taking us from a place of complaining and discontent to a place where we can stand on the precious promises of God - not out of obligation or compulsion - but through the wrestling and honest confrontation of our situation with Jesus by our side. Here is a brief refresher of the elements a lament can lead us through:

• The complaint, or Issue Life has Brought Up. 

• An Affirmation of God’s Holiness. 

• Remembrance of God’s History of Rescue.

• Remembrance of Our place before God. 

• A Prayer for Deliverance. 

• Standing on God’s Promises Today we reach the heart of the lament: A Prayer for Deliverance.  As we have struggled with the harsh realities of life around us and the oppression and evil we experience, a prayer of deliverance is one of the purest forms of reliance and trust in God.  Psalm 22 encapsulates a beautiful example of this kind of prayer: 

“Be not far from me, for trouble is near, and there is none to help. Many bulls encompass me; strong bulls of Bashan surround me; they open wide their mouths at me, like a ravening and roaring lion. I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint; my heart is like wax; it is melted within my breast; my strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to my jaws; you lay me in the dust of death. For dogs encompass me; a company of evildoers encircles me; they have pierced my hands and feet— I can count all my bones— they stare and gloat over me; they divide my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots. But you, O Lord, do not be far off! O you my help, come quickly to my aid! Deliver my soul from the sword, my precious life from the power of the dog! Save me from the mouth of the lion! You have rescued me from the horns of the wild oxen!” - Psalm 22:11-21 

We are stuck, we are hurting, and we need help.  Not help that covers over and makes everything seem fine.  We need true deep deliverance from a broken world, from the evil and harm that has happened, and from the darkness that is inside ourselves.  There is nowhere else that we can find this deliverance, but from God.  There is no twelve step plan, or comforting word, that can bring this, only God himself.  He will bring it in his way, at His time, but we can ask for it, and we should ask for it.  Orienting ourselves toward God and his power rather than our own ability to make ourselves happy or patch together the pieces.  “But you, O Lord, do not be far off!  O you my help, come quickly to my aid!  Deliver my soul from the sword, my precious life from the power of the dog!  Save me from the mouth of the lion!  You have rescued me from the horns of the wild oxen!”

May we reach out to our Savior with this kind of raw reliance.  No matter what life may bring, we have a God who listens.  He listens to our cries and our struggles, our shouts of joy and our silent thinking. He hears our prayers for deliverance and will not turn us away.  He will answer and bring us to the otherside.  

A Hope that never Fades

(Used in OS📃Epistle November 2022)

As we approach the Christmas season we have come to the end of this series on the practice of lament. The final element of a lament brings things full circle.  We started in the depths of doubt and pain but have slowly worked our way here, to standing on God’s promises. 

I will tell of your name to my brothers; in the midst of the congregation I will praise you: You who fear the Lord, praise him! All you offspring of Jacob, glorify him, and stand in awe of him, all you offspring of Israel! For he has not despised or abhorred the affliction of the afflicted, and he has not hidden his face from him, but has heard, when he cried to him. From you comes my praise in the great congregation; my vows I will perform before those who fear him. The afflicted shall eat and be satisfied; those who seek him shall praise the Lord! May your hearts live forever! All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord, and all the families of the nations shall worship before you. For kingship belongs to the Lord, and he rules over the nations. All the prosperous of the earth eat and worship; before him shall bow all who go down to the dust, even the one who could not keep himself alive. Posterity shall serve him; it shall be told of the Lord to the coming generation; they shall come and proclaim his righteousness to a people yet unborn, that he has done it.

• Psalm 22:22-31 

The final step of a Lament does not always tie things up as nicely as we would like.  This step is the most fluid and should be an undercurrent in our lament.  It is not an artificial veneer that tries to cover things up.  This is our statement of hope and faith.  We proclaim that God’s promises and goodness are real even in the depths of our darkness.  We cling to them and hold onto them as a comfort, but not only a comfort.  They are the deep reality.  The place where God has revealed himself to us.  When we look for a place to stand, we can stand on these sure words that have been given.  “All the prosperous of the earth eat and worship; before him shall bow all who go down to the dust, even the one who could not keep himself alive.  Posterity shall serve him; it shall be told of the Lord to the coming generation; they shall come and proclaim his righteousness to a people yet unborn, that he has done it.”  

Yet this standing is allowed to be shaky, we can cycle back through the lament as many times, and as often, as we need to bear our souls to God.  The book of Lamentations is a good example of this.  Five separate laments, but the third, at the heart of the book, is one lament focused on the hope found in God.  There are still two after that move back to calling out to God in pain, but the heart should always be centered with hope.  This is the kind of real hope that we can offer people.  Not a cure all, feel better bandage, but a deep abiding hope that can be honest and truly seek God.  We can cry to Him, even question and doubt Him, while still knowing and returning to the hope that He will not leave us buried under the burden of suffering by ourselves.**