Comments on: Lament…

By: James Prescott

James Prescott — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 17:05:48 +0000

I think it absolutely crucial to make lament part of our worship. If we are going to be real with God and real about serving our communities, both as church and individually, then we need to engage with and share in the pain God feels for the world, the anger He must feel at how we’ve treated His creation and his desire to do something about it. We need to be prepared to go there though. I think as we go to Jesus and start sharing in His pain, ours can be so much easier to deal with.

Also I think honesty among leadership is important in church. Jason, my pastor, is always honest about his failings, his pain and his need of Jesus to heal and save Him, and in that we can relate to him and his teaching becomes much more authentic. Not saying that works with everyone, but it works in our church for sure.

We should never hide suffering away and act like it doesn’t exist, both in ourselves and others. This world and our own lives are full of pain and suffering, which God wants to deal with. Honesty really is the best policy, both with God and yourself.

By: Steve Torr

Steve Torr — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 16:54:40 +0000

James, thank you for this, I find it very interesting and it brings me a sense of hope. I’m currently writing a PhD on developing a Pentecostal/Charismatic approach to suffering and one of the things that has struck me is the importance of lament. Both the Psalmists, the prophets and Job amongst others seem to set an example that begins with brutal honesty with God about where we’re at and what we’re feeling in order to progress in our relationship with Him and for us to heal. And, when I say we, I mean that both on an individual level and a community level. Surely to be followers of Christ means, at least in part, to share in the pains of those that suffer and give them a safe secure space in which to face their pain. My questions about this about how we do that in our church communities. Do you think that we should be making space for lament in our ‘worship’ services? And what would that space look like? I’d be really interested to hear your thoughts, or for that matter anybody else’s who reads this.

Thanks again.

By: James Prescott

James Prescott — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 23:32:09 +0000

Spot on Paul. We all have pain to deal with it, we need to be real with it and go to the cross, and letting God inspire us through pain can be so beneficial.

PS - Am going tomorrow, will send you some stuff on it ASAP.

Cheers, James.

By: James Prescott

James Prescott — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 23:30:26 +0000

Thanks for the comment, certainly I think its great if we can experess our lament through creativity, and the power in what we create can be phenomenal, whether it be art, music or words or something else. It can also inspire and encourage others in their times of lament.

James.

By: Paul

Paul — Sun, 28 Oct 2007 21:39:10 +0000

thanks James, great reflections. i guess it is is easy to buy into the life is happy, or do enough to numb the pain. maybe as mak suggests above sometimes we need something that shocks us to laent, or pierces our defenses or just inspires us, art and lament is a wonderful idea, after all so much of lament is beyond words…

By: Makeesha

Makeesha — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 14:26:04 +0000

It’s so interesting that you write this now. I just posted about a conversation we had at the Emergent Gathering about art and creativity and we talked a bit about the lament and it’s role in the world of art.

part of what I was thinking about it is that artists have a prophetic voice and in that they can give voice to the lament and also have the opportunity to communicate the redemptive hope