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Dear Friends,

In last week’s Pastor Weekly, I wrote the following paragraph. And then came Sunday and our Corporate Worship . . .

“Many of the reasons laments are awkward and we avoid them are the same reasons they are important, good, necessary, and healthy. For example: Laments require vulnerability. Vulnerability is difficult. Public vulnerability can be especially awkward and uncomfortable. Vulnerability is a risk. However, we all know that vulnerability is the key component for relational health, depth, and intimacy. Love cannot flourish without vulnerability. An avoidance of vulnerability will kill intimacy every single time.”

During Sunday’s sermon, I preached about that vulnerability dynamic – its importance and its connection with intimacy and love. And then, after that and off-camera, I personally entered (or was dragged into) lament to a deeper level than I have in a long, long time. Having Pastor Alex lead us in the lament liturgy enabled me to just participate. In the weird and mysterious work of the Spirit, I knew I was lamenting with you all – my church family – and the tears just came. And then, of course, Cory and the Worship team led me deeper into lament in song and in prayer. I barely made it through the Benediction. And then, back in my office, every time I went to click on the link to enter our “post-church drop-in” Zoom gathering, anticipating seeing all your faces, I just could not hold back the tears. I just couldn’t do it. “Sobbing mess” would have been a fair description. So, I let Pastor Bob and Alex know, and knowing you were in very good pastoral hands, I spent some time alone. Read More

Dear Friends,

“Godly despair is . . . a howling prayer that sees no explanation for our pain but reflexively knows something beyond an answer is what we desire.  Godly despair cries out for perspective but allows the hollowness of loss to move the heart to seek God.”
Dan Allender, The Cry of the Soul

If you continue to engage with the (many) Laments in the Bible, it becomes more and more obvious that God is a lot more comfortable with our pain, confusion, questions, struggle, and despair than we are. Let’s face it. Laments feel awkward, even when we read them alone and by ourselves. When we read and enter into laments publicly, whether in church or with our small groups, it’s a whole other level! It’s a struggle to believe that it’s okay for us to talk to God like this. It just feels wrong. But the Hebrew title for the book of Psalms is “The Book of Public Praises.” We are meant to lament together; God wants us to lament together. We need to lament together.

Many of the reasons laments are awkward and we avoid them are the same reasons they are important, good, necessary, and healthy. For example: Laments require vulnerability. Vulnerability is difficult. Public vulnerability can be especially awkward and uncomfortable. Vulnerability is a risk. However, we all know that vulnerability is the key component for relational health, depth, and intimacy. Love cannot flourish without vulnerability. An avoidance of vulnerability will kill intimacy every single time.Read More

Dear Friends,

• It’s not a question of personality; it’s a matter of faith and obedience.
• It’s not about different worship styles or preferences; it’s a question of balance and, more importantly, the cost and consequences of imbalance.
• It’s not about whether I’m personally struggling right now; it’s about my deep connection with the body of Christ and my alignment with God’s will for the world.

I’m talking here about the presence and practice (or absence and avoidance) of lament in our personal and corporate worship. I’ve been reflecting for the past month on the costly loss of lament in our tradition, in (predominantly White) Western Christianity, in my life, and our church – the church that I am responsible to lead and serve. I’ve got a lot of thoughts and ideas about why we don’t lament well, the first one being my own personal failure to be fully faithful to all parts of God’s Word. I’m not saying I’ve been preaching heresy or a false gospel. However, if you are doing good/great things but are, also, consistently failing to pay attention to an important thing . . . there’s a cost to that. How will you at Church of the Redeemer know how to lean into lament if you aren’t being equipped, encouraged, and invited to lament?Read More