GREETINGS HOLY PEOPLE OF GOD,
It is Lamentation after all, a book named for lamenting, and we will hear on Sunday a reading that does not at all sound like lamenting from Lamentations 3:22-33. When I first read it, I thought of the hymn, Great is your Faithfulness. We get ten verses of hope spilling forth.
So open your Bibles and read the 21 verses that come before Lamentation 3:22-33. Verse 21 says, “But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope:” What calls forth hope to your mind? Read the 21 verses and ask yourself what words of hope would pour out of your mouth. Or write up your own 21 verses of lament and see what you call to mind and the measure of your hope.
What is our go to theology of suffering? Does God punish? Where is God in the suffering of our world? Where is God in our dark night of the soul when hope is illusive and cannot be found? Pat and easy answers tend not to quench the depth of our wondering about God and suffering.
We keep turning to God and each other. We keep turning to God’s word and worship. We keep living trusting God’s faithfulness. This is the relationship we live in. The relationship we have with God is complex for we are “fearfully and wonderfully made” by God. We will struggle. We will question and doubt. We will wonder and ponder. We will lament the happenings of our lives, our relationships, our community, our nation and government. And we will grow along with our biblical witness who after 21 verses of lament can also pull to mind great hope in God’s enduring faithfulness.
Bold Inquisitive Belief Loving Expansively,
Pastor Connie Spitzack
