Lament
The book of Lamentations consists of five small chapters living at the center of the Old Testament. They are not often read and seldom heard in the sanctuary. They are not taught in Sunday School. These small chapters are tucked away in a cupboard and rarely aired out. On occasion we hear snippets of this book, but even then, we only hear the bright spots, the hope-filled words. We neglect the remainder of the book. It is difficult to read or to hear. It brings up feelings and emotions that, oddly enough, we all suffer through during times of trauma, but that no one likes to bring out of the cupboard.
The book of Lamentations – considered part of the “Writings” in the Jewish tradition and part of the “Prophets” in the Christian tradition occupies an important yet often overlooked place. How do we, as God’s people, grieve? How do we wail in lament for the traumas in our lives? Lamentations is the book that we search and learn from first in the Disciple III: Remember Who You Are Bible Study. A small group of brothers and sisters in Christ from Hayes Barton UMC will gather beginning this week to wrestle with the prophets of the Old Testament and the letters of Paul. It is better to wrestle with difficult passages of Scripture together.
The book of Lamentations is a writing related to the fall of Jerusalem and the destruction of the first Temple in 587 BC. It is not a history but a poetry-lament. It doesn’t recite historical fact or strive for accuracy; it portrays human emotions at their most heightened. The city of Jerusalem is depicted as a princess – widowed and destitute, given over to her enemies and left without provision: “All her people groan as they search for bread; they trade their treasures for food to revive their strength. Look, O Lord, and see, how worthless I have become” (Lam. 1:11). Lamentations is grim reading not intended for children – but it is beautiful reading. The poems tackle the horrors of war and its aftermath – the devastation and trauma of ruined landscapes, ruined people, and ruined personhood.
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How are we to experience hope if we don’t know loss? How are we to appreciate joy if we
don’t know sorrow?
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This all sounds depressing. And, it is – especially if you allow your heart and soul to inhabit the feelings and imagery of a besieged and conquered people. The poetry and its images are scattered and stunted. This mirrors the emotions a person or a community experiences when suffering through a trauma – moving daily from desolation and blame, to fear and longing, and to perseverance and hope. All of this range of human experience comes from five short chapters.
As I’ve been wrestling with, studying, and searching the book of Lamentations over the last couple of weeks, it makes me wonder why we don’t hear more from this little book. One must only consider the nightly news reports to bear witness to the suffering, trauma, and devastation in the world. Too often, when people experience trauma or loss, our culture pushes those devastated to move on, to forget about it, to put on a smile or a happy face. Yet, isn’t there something natural and human about sitting for a while in ashes and sackcloth? How are we to experience hope if we don’t know loss? How are we to appreciate joy if we don’t know sorrow?
As Hurricane Florence bears down on the Carolinas from the warm and swirling waters of the Atlantic, we feel anxious because we know too well about the aftermath of such storms. Please be in prayer for one another over the coming days. Please read or listen to a recording of Lamentations, and offer prays for those all over the world who are suffering. What persists, in the midst of (literal and figurative) storms and in the devastation that follows, is the presence of God and the promise of hope.
