Lamentation prayer is when we sit and speak out to God
and one another—stunned, sad, and silenced by the tragedy and absurdity of
human events. It might actually be the most honest form of prayer. It takes
great trust and patience … so I think it is actually profound prayer, but most
of us have not been told that we could, or even should, “complain” to God. I
suspect we must complain like Job, Judith, and Jeremiah, or we do not even know
what to pray for, or how to pray. Or we do not suffer the necessary pain of
this world, the necessary sadness of being human.
Rohr
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It is more than sorrow and pain
This cry that rises out of my soul
More than grief and regret
It is born in all of those rays of darkness
That gather and surround me like fetid fog
Smothering me with a darkness
That presses my soul until
I cry out in
Lament
It rises out of a perichoresis dance of foulness
replacing indwelling love
with fear and hate,
anger and resentment,
sorrow, grief, and regret
demanding an incarnation
forming into words
that want to be released into the universe
so they might be heard by someone, anyone
heard by God.
Sometimes it feels awkward
This lament
It seems more prudent to give God the silent treatment.
Who wants to look bad to God (as if)?
Who wants to have it out with the Holy?
But there are those, our ancestors in the faith,
Who have taught us better
If they felt God had been neglectful, abusive, or an absentee
parent
They complained
If they felt oppressed by others
They asked God to release holy hell on their enemies
In the midst of an unjust world, they cried for justice
In their pain, they cried for comfort
When they felt guilt and shame,
They asked for forgiveness
Mea Culpa, Mea Maxima Culpa
They pleaded with God for rescue
And came to God in penitence.
It can’t be just one or the other
This was not a sign of faithlessness.
Instead, their laments were proof that they took God's
promises seriously.
Where to start, O Beloved
It is overwhelming
Really
The evil in this world
It is overwhelming
The scope of my failure to reflect your image
Do I start with the pain and grief of seeing
Renee Good and Alex Pretti
Shot
Like Kristi Noem’s dog
Not precious souls,
Merely nuisances to be removed
Do I cry out over the brutality of ICE
As they violently seek to take the strangers
From our mist?
Do I anguish over the poor and hungry,
The forgotten people?
Or express my grief over a nation
Dying from the inside out?
I have my own regrets.
Words spoken and written
People harmed or neglected
I have that hard knot of hate
That grows in my soul
My desire for retribution
My inability to forgive, or give
I am angry, sad, hurting, questioning, doubting, and
regretful
How do I express that?
How do I send it winging toward heaven?
Lord, hear my prayer.
Hear my words of joy as the sun paints the sky
Hear my expressions of wonder as the mountain
Snuggles under a layer of new snow
Hear my words of petition for others, and for myself
Hear my pleas for help as I face another Sunday
When I am somehow supposed to reflect your truth.
But I know my prayer is incomplete without lament
I know I need to sit and speak to You.
Sit, stunned, saddened, and silenced by the tragedy and
absurdity of the world.
Sit with all my feelings, all
And then offer them to you
An act of faith, really
Lament is my way of saying that I believe you care
That I believe you are love
That I believe you keep your promises
And you promise to be with me, always.
Lament is my way of saying that you, too
Were on the streets of Minneapolis
And that Renee and Alex were not alone
That you are with Liam Conejo Ramos
And all the other children, brutalized
Detained and
deported
The lambs of God
I believe that as my lament rises
You come down
And meet it with love and power
Forgiving, healing, protecting, comforting, teaching,
loving… (there are too many words)
So that you, and I, and all your people
Might move
From lament to hope
