The Language of Lament - Part Two
/“He that lacks time to mourn, lacks time to mend.” - Sir Henry Taylor
I acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of the country now called Australia and the original custodians of the land in which I write, the Borogegal tribe, and recognise their continuing connection to land, waters and culture. I pay my respects to their Elders past, present and emerging.
It’s not about making it better. At least not just yet.
What we’re seeing in America and within our own country is mass lamenting. And we need to listen to it.
There are forms and structures to lament. We see this in the Psalms. There are 42 Psalms of Lament and each of them follows a certain format. This list is not comprehensive (there can be up to seven sections to a lament) and a lament does not always follow this format, but generally speaking, a lament consists of the following:
Invocation > Complaint > Request > Expression > Vow.
Invocation: The action of invoking someone or something.
Complaint: A statement that something is unsatisfactory or unacceptable.
Request: An act of asking politely or formally for something.
Expression: The action of making known one’s thoughts or feelings.
Vow: a solemn promise.
We’re seeing a lot of Complaint right now and I can’t say I’m surprised.
A few weeks back, I was discussing the challenges facing reconciliation in our land and how I found it difficult to listen to our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people because all I heard was complaint, no direction towards reconciliation.
My friend turned to me and said “But we need to listen to their grief. We need to sit in their grief for a while because they need to be heard.”
That simple phrase was a turning point for me.
I realised that there couldn’t be reconciliation until there had been proper lamenting and if God has shown us anything about proper lamenting, it is that it requires listening.
During these times, I, as a privileged white woman will turn to the Bible for guidance and prayer. Both very good things to do. But I know I will naturally gravitate towards passages like ‘love your neighbour as yourself’ or ‘Forgive seventy times seven.’ Both good passages to remember but I will completely miss the sections of the Bible that point to lament. There is an entire book about it. That signifies to me that lamenting is pretty important.
And as I reflect on books like Lamentations, “written for public rituals commemorating the destruction of the city of Jerusalem and its Temple” (ref) or books like Job, a man well versed in lamenting his pain, or even Jesus’ final words of lament – “My God, my God, Why have you forsaken me?” - I am drawn to the image of a God who, in all cases of lamenting, listened. He sat and listened. He waited and listened. He did not rush to heal. He did not rush to repair. He did not rush to reconcile. He listened to the lamenting. And so should we.
National Reconciliation Week may have gone unnoticed by the media, but it will not go unnoticed by me. Just as George Floyd will not go unnoticed by the millions of Americans protesting his death. We, as privileged white people, need to acknowledge our privilege and then sit down in the dirt and ashes of sorrow and pain with our fellow man and listen. Listen as they lament. And then pray.
Because the final piece of the lamenting process, no matter which format or flow you engage with it, is two steps:
Pray for deliverance. Pray for God’s intervention. Pray that God will not leave us. Pray that God will help us navigate these incredibly difficult times. And;
Praise. I know, I know. It’s a very strange concept to engage in, especially at this time. But by ending with praise we “right-side” our vision. We bring our focus back to truth. Back to the reality that the same God who can save the world, can save the one. The same God who can breathe fire, can also breathe life. The same God who is vast, giant, and seemingly distance, is close, as close as the air we breathe.
This is our listening and lamenting God.
Artwork by ariel sinha
Some quotes from the Common Grace’s National Reconciliation Week email campaign:
“Reconciliation means listening, learning, and taking action.”
“It removes the human element from the equation, whereas ‘Secular Reconciliation’ is based on a reciprocal arrangement. It says, If you do something for me and I reciprocate and do something for you, then we can be one. Biblical Reconciliation says that it’s not what I do for you or what you do for me that makes us one, it’s what Christ has done for both of us, one.”
“As Christians we are called to be people of Reconciliation and part of Reconciliation is a journey of truth telling of Australia’s history of treatment of our First Peoples, the Aboriginal peoples. We must never forget the brutal history of this country and dispossession of its people.”
