Staff Devos

Intro

WATW Worship

Pastor Paul

Lament

Lamentations 5:1–12 NRSV

1 Remember, O Lord, what has befallen us; look, and see our disgrace! 2 Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers, our homes to aliens. 3 We have become orphans, fatherless; our mothers are like widows. 4 We must pay for the water we drink; the wood we get must be bought. 5 With a yoke on our necks we are hard driven; we are weary, we are given no rest. 6 We have made a pact with Egypt and Assyria, to get enough bread. 7 Our ancestors sinned; they are no more, and we bear their iniquities. 8 Slaves rule over us; there is no one to deliver us from their hand. 9 We get our bread at the peril of our lives, because of the sword in the wilderness. 10 Our skin is black as an oven from the scorching heat of famine. 11 Women are raped in Zion, virgins in the towns of Judah. 12 Princes are hung up by their hands; no respect is shown to the elders.

Pastor Paul talked about how one of the best expressions of lament was having the blues

the blues is when good people get caught up in something bad

Pandemic

Ancient Israel was accustomed to Lament

in fact about 1/3 of the psalms are psalms of lament

they were communal pieces of art that made sense of the world around them

The Israelite people had all sorts of trauma they were forcibly moved several times, scattered even

And with each one when they sort of made sense of their world once again there was this beautiful poetry and art that they made to express how they were feeling

Complaining

He made a comparison to complaining

people complain because we haven’t taught them any other way to lament

My Response

Getting together a group of people

Questions

What are you grieving right now?

What are you needing right now? Or what do you think our church is needing?

What are your hopes for Ankeny First?