Lamentations: Unedited Prayer during an Exile
Lamentations: Unedited Prayer during an Exile
Tale of Two Lyricists: Martin Luther & Taylor Swift
Eugene Peterson calls Lamentations, “A funeral service for the death of the city.” All Eugene Peterson quotes are from Five Smooth Stones For Pastoral Work.
In some ways it is a funeral for the past. What we knew. What we used to hope for.
“The acrostic patiently, and carefully, goes through the letters of the alphabet and covers the ground of suffering. Every detail of suffering comes under consideration.” Peterson
Suffering is personal, intricate, delicately considered, thoroughly considered.
We prefer shortcuts around suffering. Two most common are grasping and depressing. In our Theta Community, our Second 'Way' is called the “Way of the Cross” and we say, “We intend to walk in the way of Jesus, which is the way of the cross. We will practice reflexive surrender instead of grasping or depression.” Regula Vitae from the Theta Community at Trinity.
Lamentation's Structure
Chapter 1 (22 verses): Experience of Loneliness
How lonely sits the city that was full of peole! How like a widow has she become. Lamentations 1.1
Chapter 2 (22 verses): Experience of God’s judgment
How the Lord in his anger has set the daughter of Zion under a cloud! He has cast down from heaven to earth the splendor of Israel; he has not remembered his footstool in the day of his anger. Lamentations 2.1
My eyes are spent with weeping; my stomach churns (2.11)...they cry (2.12)...their heart cried to the Lord (2.18)...Arise, cry out in the night (2.19).
Chapter 3 (66 verses): Experience of Affliction/Wandering
19 Remember my affliction and my wanderings, the wormwood and the gall!20 My soul continually remembers it and is bowed down within me.21 But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope:22 The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end;23 they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.24 “The LORD is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.” (Lamentations 3.19-24)
kids at play—loss
The children beg for food, but no one gives to them. (Lamentations 4.4)
wealthy—loss
Those who once feasted on delicacies perish in the streets. (Lamentations 4.5)
leaders—loss
Her princes were purer than snow...bodies more ruddy than coral...beauty like a sapphire...Now their faces are not recognized in the streets; their skin has shriveled on their bones; it has become as dry as wood. (Lamentations 4.7-8)
Chapter 5 (22 verses): Experience that is unresolved
19 But you, O LORD, reign forever; your throne endures to all generations.20 Why do you forget us forever, why do you forsake us for so many days?21 Restore us to yourself, O LORD, that we may be restored! Renew our days as of old—22 unless you have utterly rejected us, and you remain exceedingly angry with us. (Lamentations 5.19-22)
- Lamentation is processing your grief with God, instead of for God. He is not looking for a finished product. He is looking for a real person. He is looking for you.
- Lamentation is unrepressed anger--even protest. Repressed anger is a killer! Psychologically, physically, violently, depression, muscle tension, sarcasm, resentment.
- Lamentation may tarry for the night, but joy comes in the morning. (Psalm 30.5).
- Lamentation may result in the deepest fellowship with the crucified one, who prays unedited, "My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?"
“The acrostic form makes certain that nothing is left out, but it also, just as certainly, puts limits upon the repetitions. If there is a beginning to evil, there is also an end to it. There are only twenty-two letters in the Hebrew alphabet. When you have used them up, you can return to the beginning and start over again, but after you have done that a few times, the realization begins to dawn that that territory has been covered. Sorrow and suffering are not infinite. Any serious discomfort, illness, hurt, or loss seems at the time of impact as if it will go on forever, getting worse all the time. But, in fact, it does not. There is either healing or death. There comes a time when either life ends or the suffering ends. The subjective feeling of endlessness in suffering is, in fact, false.” Peterson.
The biblical revelation neither explains nor eliminates suffering. It shows, rather, God entering into the life of suffering humanity, accepting and sharing the suffering. Scripture is not a lecture from God, pointing the finger at unfortunate sufferers and saying, "I told you so: here and here and here is where you went wrong; now you are paying for it." Nor is it a program from God providing, step by step, for the gradual elimination of suffering...The suffering is there, and where the sufferer is, God is. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. (Isa. 53:4)” Peterson.
“Suffering is an event in which we are particularly vulnerable to grace.” Peterson.Integration Questions:
1. If you could only listen to Martin Luther's songs or Taylor Swift's songs for the rest of your life, who would you choose?
2. Dickens, The Tale of Two Cities begins, "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us." This seems kind of descriptive of these days. In what ways does this (or doesn't it) feel like today?
3. Two common shortcuts in dealing with suffering are grasping (clenched fists) and depressing (pushing down). Are tempted by one or the other?
4. When you are in the middle of suffering, what are some of the lies it tells you?
5. How can we pray for one another this week?
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