Lament

“Lament is the cry of the psalmists of Israel in exile who, feeling abandoned by God, demanded, “Where are you, Lord?” Or the psalmists who were bothered by God’s remarkably bad sense of timing: “Why are you taking so long?” “The poor are being crushed. The wicked are winning. Don’t you see it?” The twin sisters of Psalms are prayers of praise and lament, and they are always walking hand in hand, sometimes singing, sometimes crying.  

Lament is not despair. It is not whining. It is not a cry into a void. Lament is a cry directed to God. It is the cry of those who see the truth of the world’s deep wounds and the cost of seeking peace. It is the prayer of those who are deeply disturbed by the way things are. We are enjoined to learn to see and feel what the psalmists see and feel and to join our prayer with theirs. The journey of reconciliation is grounded in the practice of lament.” 

Daily I receive a reflection from the Center of Action and Contemplation. The above two paragraphs came in the thoughts for today, theologian Emmanuel Katongole and Peacemaker Chris Rice are given credit. The whole week contains thoughts on lamenting which lead me to this question…do we even know what lament is and if we do why don’t we practice it?

In my training for Trauma Healing, I was exposed to lamenting, an immeasurable tool use to process the tragedy that sits frozen inside of heart wounded souls. The program was initially used in war torn countries to help in the healing. Today aren’t we all in a battle of some sort? We all could use the processing exercise used by the Trauma Healing Institute.

In that training I also learned that we Westerners do not grieve healthily. Other cultures give permission for their overwhelming pain to move through the suffering and not around it, by emotional expression freedom, cultural acceptance, and comforting empathy. Americans usually are encouraged to keep the pain to themselves. Grieve in private. Don’t let others see you suffer. Don’t think of what you have lost, focus on what you have… “I call bullsh#*!”

Ya’all, let’s do better! Let’s learn to lament! and show others and allow others to do the same!

We feel powerless when we lose someone we love.

We feel powerless when a sexual assault steals innocence.

We feel powerless when a minority lives in fear because of racisim.

We feel powerless when someone is unjustly convicted of a crime of the judicial system

We feel powerless when a healthy pregnancy results in a baby and mother’s life at risk due to human error or lack of proper medical care.

……add your powerless feelings here.

So what do we do? How do we regain our strength and not give permission to the pain to suck us under? How do we move forward in hope and reject the fear that wants to hijack the power?

Our power source is God. He holds every answer. and yet we can’t just jump straight into a space of gratitude (I have tried, it isn’t authentic, a forced reaction to make the pain go away, only keeps me stuck for a longer period)

What about this Lament thing? You know the one I’ve been trained in…now is the time for application. If it worked for people healing from war torn countries, hurricane victims who lost everything, people grieving from violence due to their identity, soldiers returning from combat, why couldn’t it work for me?

so here goes…

Abba Father…

where are you?

your people are suffering greatly

Evil seems to be in control through selfishness and fear, terrorizing innocent people through racisim, or power, every man for themselves, protect your property, who cares if a kid is coming to pick up his brother and accidently shows us at the wrong house, shoot him???, he’s a kid! but he came on my property…. what? does he seriously need to die? oh yeah we don’t know all sides to the story… he probably had his hood up.

What about a man just doing his job, driving in a company van clearly marked with the large national logo who gets rearended by a high school driver on their way to work/school. Seriously does the cop need to keep his hand on his gun making the driver who is black, shake with fear. The driver was warned he didn’t belong in the area. An exchange of insurance was not needed. The driver was told that they would handle it through his boss… uhoh, what happens when the police discover that the boss is black also.

This happened today, in Indiana!

And so many cant admit racism is real!

Please remove the scales from the eyes!

Please give me a place to express and release this anger raging inside of me, this mama bear heart wants to come out fighting!

Please help me react in healthy, life enhancing ways, not the way my mind wants to lash out at the people who are taking innocent lives and attempting to destroy them due to ignorance!

Help me to see you more that cockroach of the enemy!

Help me hear your calm voice more than the frustration in mine!

Help me to trust you to use everything for good even when it is beyond understanding.

Help me to feel your power, to feel your peace, and to spread your love.

Help me to increase your impact and not to give power to the one who comes to steal kill and destroy!

I need you Now! I am not strong enough… i will rest, i will cry, i will hug… you take care of the rest!