Our world – and our lives – have changed radically. Are you sad? Angry? Scared? Well, then you’re not alone.
For most of us, our lives have changed significantly due to this pandemic and continue to change. Many of us are grieving — for the loss of loved ones, or for the loss of missed holidays, or loss of employment, time spent with friends and family. The list goes on.
And perhaps we are grieving too for the things to come: which we know won’t happen, at least not in the way we would hope for.
When we look to the Bible, we find that there we are those who have gone before, who have expressed their grief, their anger, their sorrow to God. Lament is important — by lamenting we are expressing and vocalising our pain: not with the intention of staying in that place, but in order to move through it.
Lament leads us to freedom.
So, when we turn to the Psalms and to Lamentations, we discover that the writers, by lamenting, are able to move through their pain to a place of trust and, ultimately, of praise.
This process may take a very long time, but ultimately freedom will come.
We share the pain. We walk the path together. God is with us.
October 2020