Powerful Prayer- Learning to Lament

Welcome/ Prayer/ Intro

Good Morning Church! How is everyone doing this morning? It has been a full couple of weeks for Jess and I. Last week we were in CT visiting our new nephew William (See Jess for Pictures). This week we were visiting my family in Norristown. All that to say, Its good to be home this morning with our church family.

Prayer: Father, God, Yahweh.. We come before you this morning with many things on our hearts and minds. We each carry different things with us every day. Joys. Excitements. Fears. Worries. Doubts. Feelings of Insecurity. We push away these feelings with a long list of “To-do”s or whats coming next. We put on a mask to hide these burdens that we carry. God, you see them all. Every single thing we bring. My prayer is that as we go deeper in prayer this morning we gthat ive more ourselves to you today. May you have our fears. pain. grief. sorrows. loss. anger. distress. may you use take them and use them to make us look more like you.

Intro:

I have found that when I am grieved, frustrated and in pain. my first response is to go talk it out. In fact, I almost over process my feelings with others sometimes. There are several people who I go to and express what I am feeling. In many ways, I lament verbally. That is just how I work through my emotions.

As We think about this topic of lament, How do we deal with our deepest emotions of grief, loss, suffering and anguish?

Do we bottle them up or numb ourselves to them?

Do we process with people?

Do we journal?

Do we go into the barn and throw some hay bails around?

How do we process our deepest emotions?

Do we take these feelings before God?

Listen to the the words of one person processing before God.

Psalm Reading:

Psalm 77 (NIV)

I cried out to God for help;

I cried out to God to hear me.

When I was in distress, I sought the Lord;

at night I stretched out untiring hands,

and I would not be comforted.

I remembered you, God, and I groaned;

I meditated, and my spirit grew faint.

You kept my eyes from closing;

I was too troubled to speak.

My heart meditated and my spirit asked:

“Will the Lord reject forever?

Will he never show his favor again?

Has his unfailing love vanished forever?

Has his promise failed for all time?

Has God forgotten to be merciful?

Has he in anger withheld his compassion?”

The Psalm is a expression of the authors deepest emotions expressed through prayer. This is a small glimpse of what it means to lament before God.

Laments: What is a Lament? and What does it look like to Lament?

What is a Lament?

A lament is a form of prayer where we express ourselves before God. (Some of the following comes from pastors and theologians that define lament for us)

A Lament is not a complaint

A complaint is a accusation against God that goes against His Character

i.e. When the Israelites are in the wilderness Exodus 16:2-3 (Slide)

A lament is a petition before God to act according to his Character. To bring justice in an unjust situation.

A Lament is a proof of intimate relationship with God

When we see lamenting not as complaining, but offering our deepest feelings before God, it reveals we relationship with Him

For anyone who is a parent knows that if your children want something, they arent going to go up to a random stranger and ask for it (99%) of the time.

When a baby cries, it cries because it needs something, and a baby like our new nephew knows that when He cries his mom and dad will hear his cry and respond.

Its the same way with God, lamenting is proof that we are his children that have these deep needs and when we pray, we are asking God to show up and enter into our pain with us.

When my father passed away in 2015, I went through a season of lament. Although, I did not see it as a lament, there were several times where I brought my emotions completley before God in a way I hadnt before.

I brought grief, anger, loss, and despair before God.

Lament is a prayer for God to act

Part of Lament is to bring our deepest emotions, “cries”, and needs before God, but another part is to ask God to enter into our pain and suffering and do something about it!

Lament is an invitation to participate in the suffering of others as well!

Even in times where we are not experiencing personal suffering we can lament with our brothers and sisters that are!

Maybe we are not being attacked by enemies but what about Christians in Syria and Afghanistan. We may not have experienced loss in our lives but we all know someone who has.

Jesus did this with Mary and Martha

We can do this because we know Jesus did. On the cross, When he cries out “My God why have you forsaken me?” Its not a Theological statement of how Jesus was actually forsaken, but it expressed the feelings of many 1st century Jewish/Christian Martyrs of the time.

Sometimes this means you just sit and cry with someone. You dont have to say anything or change the subject. If someone dealing with something heavy dont just jump into proble solving mode, but sit and be present with them.

Transition: Now that we know what a lament is, What exaclty does it look like for someone to lament before Yahweh? Well, for that I want us to take a look at another book of the bible, does anyone have any guesses as to what that book might be? LAMENTATIONS

What does it look like to Lament?

Context of Lamentations

In the book of Lamentations we see several voices bringing laments before God. We hear the voice of Daughter Zion which is a collective voice of the people in the first two chapters. We also hear the voice of the prophet Jeremiah.

Describe the feelings of the people, temple lost, city destroyed, God failed to come to their aid in their eyes, covenant broken, Yahweh destroyed.

Lamentations 2 and 4 captures some of this lament language here:

Read Lam 2:9-16 (From Bible)

The author continues to describe the state of Israel in Chapter 4, Read 4:1-11 (From Bible)

In the last chapter we see a transition from expression of pain and loss to petition for intervention Lam 5:15-21 (Slide)

In these pasages of Lamentations we see what it means for the People of Israel to Lament before God.

Transition: We have learned about what a lament is and we have look at what this type of prayer looks like in the Book of Lamentations. We are now going to enter into a time of reflection where we can allow ourselves to lament.

Application: Practicing Lament Together

Invititation to Lament:

As we begin this process I want to say there is no proper way to do this, you can have your eyes closed or open you can draw or write or just sit in silence.

First, I want to invite you to use this time to simply notice what is broken in your community, world,life, self and relationships. Say them out loud or write them. Describe what happened. With these things you might feel some strong emotions allow yourself to sit with them.

Things you might notice in our congregational life: Dorothy, Pastor Dennis, Karen Dangler, We have lost people and families in the past few years.

Pause for 5 minutes why we play Steady by Loud Harp

Petition for God to Step into the pain with us and remember the words of how Jeremiah tells us that their is hope.

Use this time to not only petition God to move and work in this suffering, but to also reflect on these words from the prophet Lam 3:22-24 (Slide)

While you wait on God’s answer to your prayers, imagine giving Jesus the weight of your grief and concerns now. What does it look like as he carries it? What do you imagine him doing to show his compassion in your situation?

Play Weeping Mary by Loud Harp

I want to close our time together by reading the words of Lam 3:22-24 as a benediction for our lament.

Sending: Next week a the MDS team will be headed down to Kentucky, I want to close the service with a prayer for those going on this trip could those going on the trip next week come to the front of the middle of the church and could we just surround this group and pray for them, Jess is going to open and I can close.