JR. Forasteros - October 29, 2017
Sitting with Grief
Grief is uncomfortable. In the face of tragedy, no words are sufficient to salve our pain. Yet in the face of others’ pain, we find ourselves offering platitudes and speaking for God so we can avoid their pain. But Lamentations 1 is a funeral dirge. We hear the woman’s honest, unflinching cries of pain and see the prophet join her, offering nothing but his presence. How can we learn to be honest about pain so we can begin the process of reorientation?
From Series: "Good Grief"
We avoid pain and grief as much as possible. When faced with someone else's grief, we avoid or offer platitudes. But the book of Lamentations invites us to sit with grief, to enter into the prophetic process of Lament. In this series, we'll explore how to grieve and how to be a friend to the grieving. Ultimately, we'll see how the process of lament invites us to be agents of healing in the larger world.
More From "Good Grief"
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This message was written and delivered by artist Katie Fisher, whose installation Dust in My Mouth has been on display during this sermon series.
For the last 6 years I have been living with chronic illness. At times I have been so ill I can’t get out of bed or take care of myself. Wrestling through dark days and against my own unfulfilled ambitions has led me to stop praying for healing and to reimagine what hope looks like for me.
The struggle has been long and discouraging.
I stopped praying for healing because I was exhausting myself in searching for a solution that was not coming. I wanted a solution in which I could continue to be strong and in need of nothing—and no one.
Thankfully my prayers remain unanswered.
Let’s talk about hope. Let’s look at the false hope we want to see in Lamentations 3 and the sustaining hope which the Prophet declares—the same hope Christ embodied on the cross. To this hope, through honest lament, Christ beckons us, his church, to join him.
