Reclaiming the Role of "Lament"

When was it that we stopped pouring out our souls to God in the midst of his people?
When was it that we decided only to allow happy, uplifting, positive songs to fill our worship times?
When was it that we no longer esteemed or publically exclaimed the desperate cries of the psalmist?

Psalm 102:1-10 (NLT)
A prayer of one overwhelmed with trouble, pouring out problems before the Lord.

Lord, hear my prayer!
Listen to my plea!
Don't turn away from me
in my time of distress.
Bend down your ear
and answer me quickly when I call to you,
for my days disappear like smoke,
and my bones burn like red-hot coals.
My heart is sick, withered like grass,
and I have lost my appetite.
Because of my groaning,
I am reduced to skin and bones.
I am like an owl in the desert,
like a lonely owl in a far-off wilderness.
I lie awake,
lonely as a solitary bird on the roof.
My enemies taunt me day after day.
They mock and curse me.
I eat ashes instead of my food.
My tears run down into my drink
because of your anger and wrath.
For you have picked me up and thrown me out.

So many of us have become wearied by the commodification of the gospel, and how the institutionalized church has bowed to a consumer mentality. We're so focused on providing people with a positive, uplifting experience, that we've forgotten what it means to be human. Consider the following wisdom, recently offered by Sally Morgenthaler:

"Let's admit it. We all have days, weeks, months, and -- in some cases, years -- when the hand of God seems far from us. We struggle with doubt, depression, and emptiness. Our questions and prayers linger, seemingly unanswered. Ironically, Jesus joins us in our pain. I sometimes feel that our songs make people push the delete button on their inner life. Sad is only permissible for one measure. And, perish the thought, it's never OK to be angry or to doubt God's goodness or sovereignty. That would be blasphemous. So we don't sing about such feelings. Which is interesting, because the Psalmist...certainly sang about them. But the Christian subculture in North America is, if anything, repressive. So, in keeping with our penchant for emotional editing and denial, we compose song lyrics only from psalm verses that we deem positive, excising nearly every expression of doubt, confusion, struggle, and lament (Worship Leader, March/April 2004, p. 14)."

Maybe -- if we were to provide space and opportunity in our gatherings for people to cry out to God, question God, and even get mad at God -- we might just end up nurturing believers with an authentic faith that's stronger and more resilient than we have ever seen in our time.

So how do begin this journey? How can we begin to reclaim the role of lament? Well, maybe we could at least start with the following:

• Explain what a "psalm of lament" is to your congregation, and then begin using portions of these in your gathering times (e.g. as a scripture reading, dramatic reading, etc.).


• Introduce songs into your repertoire that contain a lamenting theme, or encourage song writers in your congregation to begin composing such songs.


• Select a lament psalm (e.g. Ps. 77, 88, 102), and teach it to your congregation, in an interactive fashion if possible, encouraging people to write out their own psalm of lament and to place it on the altar before they leave.

Comments

[Beth]

Shameless self-promotion here, but there are two pieces on reclaiming the lament Psalms in "Get Up Off Your Knees." One by Jamie Howison looks at Ps 40 along with Bruce Cockburn, Steve Bell, Bruggemmann, and U2 - the other by Brian Walsh reads Ps 44 in tandem with "Wake Up Dead Man," finding the former more scandalous.

Seeing your post, and the quote from Sally, I'm thinking those two are part of a larger movement of attention to the role of lament in the contemporary spiritual journey.

[Karl Thienes]

Chris,

When I was struggling with being a Protestant I used to call this phenomenon "The Cult of the Nice"...One of the things I really appreciate about Orthodox worship and spirituality is how *real* it is...it takes life seriously and in a way that makes all of it important.

[Chris(tine)]

Chris - I've seen a few times when there has been a place for lamenting in worship... but besides the "happy, happy, joy, joy-only" people having a hard time with it, it seems to me that the whole church ends up shying away from this 'cause lamenting is a messy business. "Messy" makes us too uncomfortable, and I'm not sure we've really learned (at least in most of the churches I've been in) to live with that discomfort... We want to "fix" things too badly.

[Heidi]

it stopped when the church did away with the prophet. as mike at waving or drowning pointed out in a great tozer quote:

Another kind of religious leader must arise among us. They must be of the old prophet type, a person who has seen visions of God and has heard a voice from the Throne. When they come (and I pray God there will be not one but many), they will stand in flat contradiction to everything our smirking, smooth civilization holds dear. They will contradict, denounce and protest in the name of God and will earn the hatred and opposition of a large segment of Christendom. Such a person is likely to be lean, rugged, blunt- spoken and a little bit angry with the world. They will love Christ and the souls of people to the point of willingness to die for the glory of the One and the salvation of the other. But they will fear nothing that breathes with mortal breath."

We have nothing to "lament" because we won't look at the truth, because we have "killed the messenger".

[iphy]

psalm 88 is my anthem. i discovered it several years ago, and since i have realised it is the only psalm that does NOT have a happy ending.

i.

[Chris]

That's for the references, Beth. Much appreciated.

Two years ago I was in a seminar, listening to an explanation of postmodernity. One of the "characteristics" has always stuck in my mind:

- a specter of doom.

This has got me thinking... and wondering if there's a connection here, resulting in our readiness to accept "lament" as being consistent with today's socio-political-cultural reality (i.e. a specter of doom)?