1. A Prayer For The People of God
God, Refuge of wanderers and exiles,
the mother and father of the homeless,
you weep with those who are uprooted from their
homeland, and you suffer with those who exist without
shelter and security. Grant that your faithful love may
reach out, and your healing mercy rise like the dawn
on all who are oppressed. We ask this through Jesus,
your Son, who knows our hardship and sorrow.
Amen.
2.
3.
4. Keep on
the sunny side
Always on
the sunny side
Keep on the
sunny side of life
It will help us
everyday
It will brighten
all the way
If we keep on
the sunny side of life
5. There’s a dark and
a troubled side of life
But there’s a bright
and a sunny side too
Though we meet with
the darkness and strife
The sunny side we
also may view
8. When Mary came where Jesus was, and saw him,
she knelt at his feet, and said to him, “Lord, if you
had been here, my brother would not have died.”
When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who
came with her also weeping, he was greatly
disturbed in spirit, and deeply moved…
(and) Jesus began to weep.
JOHN 11:32-34
10. LAMENT in scripture…
- Job is largely an expression of lament amidst suffering/loss
- 40% of the Psalms are “laments”
(like “hospital visits,” w/a hope of healing/recovery)
- Jeremiah is known as “the weeping prophet”
- Wrote Lamentations; chapters 1, 2 & 4 =“funeral dirges”
(there is a “dead body in the room” that must be addressed)
11. The American church avoids lament.
The power of lament is minimized,
and the underlying narrative of suffering
(lament requires) is lost. But absence
doesn’t make the heart grow fonder.
Absence makes the heart forget.
The absence of lament in the liturgy of
the American church results in the loss
of memory. We forget the necessity
of lamenting over suffering, and pain.
SOONG CHAN RAH
13. I remember my affliction and my wandering,
the bitterness and the gall.
I well remember them,
and my soul is downcast within me.
Yet this I call to mind
and therefore I have hope:
LAMENTATIONS 3:19-21
14. Because of the Lord’s great love
we are not consumed,
for his compassions never fail.
They are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion;
therefore I will wait for him.”
LAMENTATIONS 3:22-24
15. The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him,
to the one who seeks him;
it is good to wait quietly
for the salvation of the Lord.
LAMENTATIONS 3:25-26
17. LESSONS on LAMENT…
1. LAMENT IS NEITHER DENIAL NOR DESPAIR
We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed;
perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not
abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. 2 Cor 4:8-9
18. LESSONS on LAMENT…
1. LAMENT IS NEITHER DENIAL NOR DESPAIR
We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed;
perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not
abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. 2 Cor 4:8-9
2. LAMENT IS NEITHER FEARFUL NOR
FEARLESS
Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed
within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him,
my Savior and my God. My soul is downcast within me;
therefore I will remember you… Psalm 42:5-6a
19. The man…makes a decision, voluntarily
affirming his faith, and acts with
resolution and determination. Lifting up
his eyes, he looks beyond the current
situation and focuses his thought on God.
Circumstances have changed, but God
has not. The more the author thinks
about it, the more he recognizes that the
Lord is his real treasure, more precious
than the riches of the temple/city he loves.
AFRICA BIBLE
COMMENTARY
20. LESSONS on LAMENT…
3. LAMENT ISN’T “EITHER/OR,” BUT
“BOTH/AND”
…my soul is downcast within me. Yet this I call to mind
and therefore I have hope… Lamentations 3:20-21
21. QUESTIONS to CONSIDER…
1. Is there anything you need to lament,
but you’re trying to avoid it?
2. Is there anyone you know who needs
to lament…and you’re not letting them?
3. If “more than one thing can be true at the
same time,” what conflicting realities
do you need to start holding in tension?
23. Benediction
God of all the ages,
you have revealed your grace
in our Savior, Jesus Christ.
As we wait patiently on your mercies,
strengthen us to live in your justice,
that with open hearts we may hear
and accomplish your will,
through Christ, who lights the way
to life everlasting.
Amen.
