Holy Grief

A pause from our sermon series, Storyboard.

All Saints’ Day (November 1). Major observance dating to at least the late fourth century, originally set aside to honor Christian martyrs. Other (non-canonized) deceased Christians are honored the following day, on All the Faithful Departed/All Souls’ Day (November 2). Many Protestants, holding that all Christians are saints, honor all the Christian departed on All Saints’ Day (November 1) or the Sunday following. Historically, the date has varied widely among traditions.

Today, appropriately, we will be looking to a Psalm of Lament. On this all saints day we recognize those loved ones that have gone, those in our community and in our families. Even as we celebrate their eternal life as saints we also again must acknowledge death.

Scripture

Psalm 57 NIV

For the director of music. To the tune of “Do Not Destroy.” Of David. A miktam. When he had fled from Saul into the cave. Have mercy on me, my God, have mercy on me, for in you I take refuge. I will take refuge in the shadow of your wings until the disaster has passed. I cry out to God Most High, to God, who vindicates me. He sends from heaven and saves me, rebuking those who hotly pursue me— God sends forth his love and his faithfulness. I am in the midst of lions; I am forced to dwell among ravenous beasts— men whose teeth are spears and arrows, whose tongues are sharp swords. Be exalted, O God, above the heavens; let your glory be over all the earth. They spread a net for my feet— I was bowed down in distress. They dug a pit in my path— but they have fallen into it themselves. My heart, O God, is steadfast, my heart is steadfast; I will sing and make music. Awake, my soul! Awake, harp and lyre! I will awaken the dawn. I will praise you, Lord, among the nations; I will sing of you among the peoples. For great is your love, reaching to the heavens; your faithfulness reaches to the skies. Be exalted, O God, above the heavens; let your glory be over all the earth.

Pray.

Introduction

In the words of Dr. Ellsworth Kalas… “the good news is today is All Saint’s Day, an important and beautiful part of the Christian year. The bad news is I have to convince you that it matters.”

Today is especially important for the whole church because I think we have lost the spiritual discipline of lament. Of voicing fears, doubts, failures, and suffering in healthy ways. The psalms were a large source of individual and corporate lament in Temple worship of the Bible and times after.

Psalm 57 is about acknowledging God’s faithfulness in the midst of trials. It is one of my favorite psalms because it represents incredible issues and trials and challenging praise and worship from the psalmist. Many have seen this to be David as he runs for his life from Saul and is hiding in a cave even. His life is literally on the line.

Psalm 57 teaches about the honesty in the dark valley and what it means to lament.

Why is lament important?

Well I think we have become the worst Christian radio station. We dont like sad things unless you are me as an angry teenager. A little bit of an emo/punk rock phase. What do we say about sad movies…oh i kept waiting for it to get better, etc. etc. We like feel good movies…movies where the good guy wins, the guy wins back the girl, the underdog wins the championship.

Carl Trueman is therefore right: “A diet of unremittingly jolly choruses and hymns inevitably creates an unrealistic horizon of expectation which sees the normative Christian life as one long triumphalist street party—a theologically incorrect and a pastorally disastrous scenario in a world of broken individuals.”1

1 Smith, R. S. (2017). Belting out the Blues as Believers: The Importance of Singing Lament. Themelios, 42(1), 90.

What do you do when hallmark cards will not cut it?

Lament: Expression of Grief or Sorrow

So this morning we are going to look at Psalm 57 and see what is important from this practice of lament. I am going to offer a few things that I see in this prayer and what is needed for us to recapture.

Definition: Christian lament is a prayerful expression of deep sorrow or grief that ultimately leads to trust in God. It is an honest cry to God in times of pain and suffering that acknowledges brokenness while holding onto faith in God's promises and character. This biblical practice, found extensively in the Psalms, is considered a path to deeper trust and is distinct from mere complaining. 

When we lament we are shining light on half truths, lies, and deception

My laptop screen….

Grieving a season of ministry… “I cannot do this.”

When we lament we bring everything in us under the light.

Eugene Peterson on prayer in the psalmes:

Untutored we tend to think that prayer is what good people do when they are doing their best. It is not….It is the means by which we get everything in our lives out in the open before God.

I continue to be “…convinced that only as we develop raw honesty and detailed thoroughness in our praying do we become whole, truly human in Jesus Christ, who also prayed the Psalms”

(Eugene Peterson, The Message, 911).

The psalmist….

Psalm 57:4–6 NIV

I am in the midst of lions; I am forced to dwell among ravenous beasts— men whose teeth are spears and arrows, whose tongues are sharp swords. Be exalted, O God, above the heavens; let your glory be over all the earth. They spread a net for my feet— I was bowed down in distress. They dug a pit in my path— but they have fallen into it themselves.

I wonder if this is the psalmist half truths. Even acknowledging that there is a metaphorical pit before him, he sees that that is a demise of the enemies already.

John Calvin describes these feelings of half-truths, deception and lies as “distracting emotions.” Walter Brueggeman calls individuals under their power as being disoriented. I love his quote about lament psalms:

“We must not make these Psalms too “religious” or pious. Most of the lament Psalms are the voice of those who “are mad as hell and are not going to take it any more.” They are not religious in the sense that they are courteous or polite or deferential. They are religious only in the sense that they are willing to speak this chaos to the very face of the Holy One. Thus the lament Psalm, for all its preoccupation with the hard issue at hand, invariably calls God by name and expects a response. At a crucial point, the Psalm parts company with our newspaper evidence and most of our experience, for it is disorientation addressed to God. And in that address, something happens to the disorientation. “ - Walter Brueggmann

What are your half truths, lies, deception? That you are the failure? That you will not survive this. That everything that can go wrong will continue to go wrong? That God is not listening, God is not present. God has forgotten about you.

These things are like a disease that if left in the body will kill you. You need to cut them out.

When we lament that is what we are doing....speaking chaos to the face of the Holy one.

When we lament we are bringing to God our honesty framed with hope

Lament inherently carries with it a hope. When a Christian pours out pain and difficulty and enters into a season of honest suffering…hope is not far away…or it cannot be far away.

Look at the psalm:

Psalm 57:2–4 NIV

I cry out to God Most High, to God, who vindicates me. He sends from heaven and saves me, rebuking those who hotly pursue me— God sends forth his love and his faithfulness. I am in the midst of lions; I am forced to dwell among ravenous beasts— men whose teeth are spears and arrows, whose tongues are sharp swords.

Today I want to declare, give permission even, that it is ok to not be ok. Dont put that mask on right now. The, “I’m ok” mask.

John Lynch in the Cure, “No one told me that when I wear a mask, only my mask receives love.”

This will always be a place that you should take your mask off....Church for too long,….

But, can I also declare to you today that we have a hope that can never be taken away. What we know in Jesus Christ is that God knew the world was jacked up. He knew that we were jacked up but also that things were not right. For so long we have minimized the cross to simply mean a ticket into heaven for believers. The cross of Christ is a judgement on all that is wrong. The cross of Christ is the suffering of cancer, of diseases, it is the pain of slavery and trafficking, it is the heartbreak of abandoned children, it is attack upon death itself.

The cross of Jesus Christ is our hope and our reminder that God is present

The cross of Jesus is God giving God’s-self for the brokenness of the world.

When my kids are angry they have a way of letting it be known…but when there is a cry of help it is something different. It is an intimate act, even veiled, it framed with hope that I can do something about it.

When we lament we are in good company

When we lament, God brings us closer to the cross of Christ and thereby closer to the empty tomb.

A Scholar journal featuring an essay about bring lament back in the church writes:

Smith says lament is not a silver bullet for turning bad into good...

But it does highlight its God-given capacity of assisting us in the honest articulation of sorrow, the effective processing of pain and the awakening of genuine hope. For “the psalms of lament do not dismiss or deny or seek to avoid sorrow. On the contrary, they allow a grieving person to move more fully into the valley of the shadow; knowing on different levels, that no matter what, God is indeed present in the sorrow.” But more than that, they point beyond sorrow; for even though their primary “focus is on process rather than result it must be recognized that there is a patent expectation, on the part of the psalmist, of some kind of resolution.”1

1 Smith, R. S. (2017). Belting out the Blues as Believers: The Importance of Singing Lament. Themelios, 42(1), 104–105.

The psalmist knows God’s presence right at the beginning....

Psalm 57:1 NIV

Have mercy on me, my God, have mercy on me, for in you I take refuge. I will take refuge in the shadow of your wings until the disaster has passed.

For those who suffer (and are aware and acknowledge it) there is a potential of intimacy with the crucified Christ that is beautiful and mysterious, and on the otherside, resurrection. Paul understood this

Philippians 3:10–11 NIV

I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.

For those mourning the loss of a loved one on this all saints day we celebrate the resurrection of the dead. For those that are here today, walking through trials and hardships I want you to know Jesus presence with you and I want you to know resurrection.

And finally....

When we lament we open the door for worship

All of these build. Because we have brought into the open lies and deception, because our lament is framed in hope, because we are joined with the God who is present in the suffering....we open the door for worship.

The Psalmist turns to worship...

Psalm 57:7–11 NIV

My heart, O God, is steadfast, my heart is steadfast; I will sing and make music. Awake, my soul! Awake, harp and lyre! I will awaken the dawn. I will praise you, Lord, among the nations; I will sing of you among the peoples. For great is your love, reaching to the heavens; your faithfulness reaches to the skies. Be exalted, O God, above the heavens; let your glory be over all the earth.

First, I know it does not always get here. There are psalms like Psalm 44 and 86 that are unresolved. I know that worship in the hardest moments is difficult. That is why lament is so important because we can repeat steps 1-2 until we get there.

Worship is possible because in our lament God is faithful. Blessed are those who mourn for they will be comforted. Worship is possible because the half-truths, lies and deception are cast aside…set straight. In the company of the cross leads to the restoration of the empty tomb…Worship is possible because in lament you are face to face with God.

Closing

Matt Corley went to prison last weekend. By choice. He was a part of a ministry called Kairos, serving Men in White for the weekend, sharing the gospel. It is one of the most powerful displays of God’s love and salvation. You want to know the power of God… go there. Funny to think that Jesus was serious about coming for the captive and prisoner, and we continue to be surprised when we find him there…but that is another sermon.

Matt was at a table with and become close to a young man who had been in prison for 15 years, since he was 14 years old. After a couple of days of experiencing love, hospitality, listening to gospel teachings. God began to bring down some walls.

Eventually he came up to Matt and asked him, “if you ran into me outside, what would you think?”

I asked Matt, what do you think is behind that question?

We unpacked it a little: He wants to know if he can be accepted, he wants to know if he can be forgiven, he wants to know if he can be loved.

Do you know what the truth is… this young man is lamenting. He might as well have been talking to Jesus instead of Matt.

Jesus, am I lovable or am I stuck in a prison long after I get out of this prison?

This is lament…bringing it out into the open.

Church, Whatever you are going through, whatever you might face down the road, it may not be the outcome you desire. This world is hard and unfair. But we will always know hope that can never be taken away. God is there in the mess, take refuge in the shadow of His wings.